Fairy Tail: Illuminate
by Volatile Words
Summary: Love can begin in almost anyway thought possible. This emotion knows no bounds and can only be strengthened through dedicated partnership. There's no set amount of time for how long love truly last. Read to find out first hand how long it takes a demon and a salamander to realize this. (RETURNING WITH UPDATES BY NOVEMBER 2015)
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! I'm not "new" to this site at all but I am new to publishing a story on here. I'm skeptical about making a NaMi story my very first one but I'll give it a try.

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**_When you think of the word guild in the general since, I'm sure your mind becomes filled with an array of definitions. Those definitions would be correct, if you weren't talking about Fairy Tail. When you say or think the word guild along with Fairy Tail being the subject, you think family._**

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Magnolia, a city of casual everyday kind of people who just simply enjoy living under the sun and going about everyday life as it is. There's children playing with their friends, teenagers and adults all out having fun doing the things they all planned on doing today. Everyone's happy, well almost everyone that is.

"Natsuuuuu, you promised we would go fishing today!" Yelled a disappointed Happy

Natsu and happy on the other hand were resting under a tree in the shade discussing what should be done first today.

"I know I know Happy but I have to at least do one REAL job today, my pockets are so emptyyyy!" Replied a sulking Natsu.

"Awww man that's going to take foreverrrrr" Happy said now seeping into his own state of sulking.

"Don't be that way happy, with Erza, Gray and, Lucy along with us I'm sure it wouldn't take too long at all!" Natsu said now standing up stretching. "Now let's go Happy, FULL SPEED TO FAIRY TAIL!"Natsu yelled as he began running full speed.

"AYE SIR!" Yelled a newly energized Happy and flew off towards the guild.

* * *

Shortly later Natsu and Happy enter the guild hall. Upon entering the guild Natsu immediately noticed Erza sitting at a table enjoying the sweet elegant taste of strawberry cheesecake. He decided to walk over to her and sit down. Erza stopped eating and greeted Natsu.

"Hey Natsu, you here for a job today or just hanging out?" Asked Erza

"I'm here for a job right now but ill most likely will hang out here afterwards. I want the team to do a big one this time! Whataya say?" Natsu inquired Erza, who sighed and said

"Ok Natsu lets at least see what the rest of the team has to say first." Said Erza to witch Natsu sighed

"Alright.", Was all Natsu said as he put his head down on the table to begin a light nap until a thought crossed his mind. "Say Erza, where is gray and Lucy anyway? I figured I would at least see Lucy talking to Mira. Wait a second, where's Mirajane?" Natsu asked this while looking around for the usual sight of the bright silver haired waitress/bartender.

"Gray should be here shortly and Lucy as well, she's been working on her novel a lot more lately. Mirajane though is out on a supply run for the bar, she'll turn up eventually."Answered Erza. Natsu asked another question.

"Hey Erza, I want to ask you something about Mirajane."Natsu said to witch Erza listened more carefully now paying more attention.

"And just what might that be?"Asked Erza

"Have you ever done a job with Mirajane in the past?"Natsu asked this with a sincere expression. Erza tilted her head down while a grin graced her face.

"There was this one time."Erza answered. Natsu lifted his head in interest.

**Flash Back**

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME THUNDER THIGHS!?" Yelled a jubilant Mirajane

"FIGHT ME YOU MIDRIFF BARING BASTARD!"Retorted Erza. The two mages were now face to face with each other prepared to square off. Not even for a moment did this go unnoticed by the guild.

"Well there they go again, another fight" Lisanna said as everyone one else just nodded in agreement.

Mirajane and Erza began their usual rivalry antics of destructive violence towards one another. This went on for a matter of 3 minutes. The reason behind it ending was due to master Makarov's entry to the main guild hall from his office. Usually he would just laughed along with the guild at their silly display of fighting, though today however was different.

"ERZA AND MIRAJANE STOP FIGHTING AND COME HERE!" Makarov yelled out. If anyone wasn't paying attention to the two of them then, they were now. Erza and Mirajane both walked up to Makarov.

"Erza, Mira I'm delighted to see you have such a strong rivalry going between you two. There's no doubt that you two are the strongest female mages in Fairy Tail." Makarov went on to say. "That's why I've decided to send the two of you on a job together" As Makarov finished, the guild exploded into an enormous amount gasp being made from everyone. Mirajane and Erza looked dumbfounded.

"B-B-But Master!" They both said in unison but then glared at each other.

"No Buts!"Makarov began "you two WILL complete the job and report back to me." Makarov said with a serious expression, but then softened and smiled merrily and said. "I know you two are more than capable of handling this." Makarov handed them the job request he had been saving for the two mages. Mirajane grabbed the paper and read it.

"This is almost an S class request." Mirajane stated.

"Let me see that."Erza grabbed the paper from Mirajane."Banraku Island? That's going to be a train and boat ride at least." Erza said with a sigh. Mirajane began walking towards the guild door to exit but stopped and said.

"I'll be waiting at the train station for you FATTY!" Mirajane said as she burst into laughter while exiting the guild. There were a few snickers coming from the guild hall. Erza reacted by sticking her sword into the ground, seething.

"I'm sure everything will be just fine!" Makarov said with a smile.

**FLASH BACK END**

"Wait, so where was I? I don't remember any of that happening."Natsu inquired.

"You don't remember because you were training that whole week. The job only lasted for 4 days Natsu, you were gone for 6."Erza informed him

"Huh? Oh yeah that's right, I was practicing a secrete dragon slayer art!" Natsu said while holding a blazing clenched fist in the air and had a foot on the table top.

"SIT DOWN!"Yelled Erza. Natsu wasted no time in doing what he was told.

"Anyway, as I was saying…"Erza resumed her story.

**FLASH BACK**

"So let me get this straight, there's a small group of dark guild rejects terrorizing villagers within the forest?" Mirajane asked while looking out of a train window.

"Pretty much, I'm guessing all we have to do is simply go in and rough'em up abit."Erza said while resting her head against her window.

"Well if it's that simple then there's no need for any pre planning. I'm taking a nap let me know when it's time to get off." Mirajane said drowsily. Erza just grunted and continued resting herself.

* * *

After countless hours of traveling, Mirajane and Erza finally reached Banraku Island. There were sounds of deferent animal species, a huge over growth of plant life, and salt like colored sand to grace the feet. There was a noticeable path through the trees to get to the main part of the village where most of the villagers resided. Mirajane saw this and bolted to towards the path. Erza called out to Mirajane to stop, which had little to no effect of her at all.

"Mirajane we shouldn't just rush into the forest, there could be booby traps!" Erza yelled.

"Go to hell clanky, I know what I'm doing!" Yelled Mirajane as she disappeared into the thick forest.

"AHHHH, WHAT THE HELL!?" Mirajane suddenly yelled out. Erza sighed and began sprinting towards Mirajane's location. When she got there, Erza stood frozen. Like Erza said there could be booby traps and sure enough Mirajane "found" one. Mirajane was hung upside down by a rope, dangling from a tall sturdy tree.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, CUT ME DOWN!" Mirajane yelled angrily.

"HA! Not until you say please and stop yelling!" Erza said as she prepared to start walking towards the village.

"You can forget it!" Snapped Mirajane. Erza begin to pick up her pace.

"Ok, meet me in the village then" Erza said while waving a single hand off to the side, emphasize how nonchalant she was being.

"BASTAAAAAARD!" Mirajane yelled out to Erza.

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**Here it is chapter 1, I hope to make longer chapters with much more detail as I progress. I hope the flow and feel to it isn't off or randomized. Please leave comments. CONSTRUCTIVE critisim is ok, but NO thrashing.**


	2. Chapter 2

I'm very glad to see that chapter 1 caught everyone's interest and I thank you all for taking time to read that chapter and this story as whole!

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**Flash Back Continued **

Erza walked leisurely through the, taking in all of its wonders and essence. The streets were paved out of a polished well kept stone. Buildings and homes were basically made out of polished stone carved materials and wood. There were many upon many kiosks to go up to and purchase different items for various occasions. It felt a lot like magnolia to Erza, children were playing, the sun was shining, and villagers were all laughing and smiling brightly. Seeing the villagers behave this way made Erza smile and feel comfortable being there. This also fuelled her motivation in helping to maintain this peace among them. Setting her sites on the village leader's office, Erza moved onward.

* * *

In the forest, Mirajane used her Satan Soul take over to free herself. Hovering upwards above the forest, Mirajane took a look around. From above, there wasn't much to see but lush green trees all over the vicinity. There was a mountain with a waterfall big enough to see from the distance she was at.

"No since in reverting back to normal now, might as well fly to the leaders building." Mirajane said in her demonic voice.

* * *

"Ahhh you're from the Fairy Tail guild, please come in." The village leader said inviting in the two mages. "I take it you've been briefed a little on what's been happening here in recent days, am I right?" asked the leader. Erza spoke up, while Mirajane was off staring out of a window in the office.

"Yes, you're having trouble from a group of thee former dark guild members." Erza stated.

"Ok, good." The leader said with a smile. "Now, there isn't much more information I could give you besides what the villagers have described them as. There's one that's described to be a young male 6ft tall, carries two swords, and wares a dark purple mask across the lower half of his face. The next one was said to be a young female around 5'7 in height. She doesn't carry any weapons, but the villagers say they've seen her lure people off a short distance then rob them and kill them." At this Mirajane listened more carefully awaiting the rest of the description. "She's been seen wearing a black and white kimono and her hair reaches to the middle of her back. One last detail to this one is, they say she always kept her arms folded, no one has ever seen her unfold them. This made Mirajane speak up.

"So if she never unfolded them, then how would she rob people?" Mirajane wonder aloud.

"That's what I've been wondering too, it doesn't make sense. Lastly there's the one that is believed to be the leader. There isn't anything known about him outside of him looking a bit older than the first young man and he's a few inches taller than him." The leader finished

"Hm…there's nothing else on the last one? anything?" Asked Erza

"Nope, I'm afraid that's all I've heard about him…WAIT! There's something else after all. His eyes, the only thing people ever saw were his eyes. They say he would be watching from the shadows." Informed the leader.

"Great, a shadow stalker" Mirajane said sarcastically while looking back from the window she was gazing out of.

"Ok sir, we will do everything we can and more to see to it that they leave this Island for good." Erza proclaimed sincerely. This made the leader sigh a breath of relief.

"Thank you so much me and my village are most grateful, can I please have your names?" Inquired the leader. Erza smiled.

"Sure, I'm Erza and she's Mirajane." She told the leader.

"And I am Sazu." Responded Sazu with a warm smile.

* * *

Mirajane and Erza were walking through the village discussing their plan. It had been several hours since they had last eaten anything so they decided to stop at a dessert kiosk to grab a bite to eat.

"So we watch from the trees just before the gate you walk through to enter the village, and then we wait for them to strike. Then once one of them does we tail them to the other two, what am I missing here." Mirajane inquired as she ran through Erza's plan with her.

"Nothing, that's the plan, I figure most of these instances would happen just outside the gate." Erza said

"Well let's get moving then, the sooner we finish this sooner we leave." Mirajane begin to walk off with Erza in tow.

* * *

Hours passed by and there was still nothing. Villagers walked up and down the path they were watching for what seemed like forever yet, not one sign at all. The two mages were getting frustrated now.

"What the hell is taking-"Mirajane begin but was interrupted by Erza who whispered.

"There, look someone's being followed." Just a little farther up the path there was an elderly man being followed by a tall young man with two swords and a purple mask around the lower half of his face. The masked man tapped him on the shoulder and withdrew his sword.

"Alright give me everything you got if you want to live old man." The masked swordsman emphasized his threat even more so by holding his blade to the old man's neck.

"Ok, ok I'll give you everything just please don't hurt me!" The old man was now shaking in utter fear. This wasn't sitting well with the two mages at all. They watched as the old man emptied his pockets into the swordsman free hand. Having now collected what he wanted, the swordsman begin to leave, walking through the thick forest. Mirajane and Erza leaped out of the tree and followed the man deep into the forest; they were at least eight miles from the village now. They noticed the man stopped walking and raised a single hand up forming some sort of signal. Two more individuals fitting the descriptions walked out from behind the trees to greet him.

"Another score?" This one was the female, and just like Sazu said, her arms were folded.

"I wouldn't go that far as to say that, it was just an old guy with a little change on him." Replied the swordsman.

"How the hell do you expect for us live off of that!" Yelled the older looking man. He was definitely taller than the younger man and his voice was far deeper. "You see? Dumb shit like that is why we were kicked out of the guild in the first place!"

"I don't see YOU doing anything else besides watching from shadows all of the damn time!" The younger man retorted. The older one walked closer to him and grabbed him by his shirt, bringing him to eye level with him.

"Who do you think you're talking to like that? Remember, I won't hesitate to kill you off. Do I make myself clear!?"While asking this, he threw the younger man to the ground.

"Y-Yes sir sorry sir!" Was all the fear stricken young man could say.

"Don't you think that was a little much Shimatsu?" Asked the young woman finally speaking up.

"Hardly. Tanaka go find us more money, I'm sure you can do a better job than Tamori ever would." Shimatsu begin to walk off into the forest. Tanaka helped Tamori up and begin to walk back into the direction of the village. Mirajane and Erza decided to stop these two first, and catch up to the leader later.

"Don't move another inch. We just watched that entire interaction between the three of you, we know you're the ones terrorizing the villagers." Erza announced while placing her right hand on her sword and slowly unsheathing it.

"And just who the hell are you two? "Tanaka asked Erza as she shifted her eyes back and forth between Erza and Mirajane.

"Were Fairy Tail's strongest female mages, Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss." She answered in all seriousness.

"Hmmm, can't say I've heard of you two."Tamori nonchalantly stated, Tanaka though paused slightly at hearing this.

"I've heard of you two, Titania and The Demon of Fairy Tail." Tanaka informed.

"So I see you have heard of us after all huh? Well that should make things easier, stop terrorizing the village or face our wrath." Mirajane was being completely serious now. Tanaka burst into laughter at this.

"HaHaHa! Wow, you're not serious are you? Listen, I don't care who you are," Tanaka begin as she slowly unfolded her arms to reveal bright purple scale covered claw like hands. "you're not getting in our way. Tamori take titania and don't let your guard down, I want the demon." Tanaka's body became covered in the bright purple scales and her eyes changed as well. Where there were once green eyes with a black iris, was now replaced with yellow eyes baring a demonic black slit in them. To top it off she was generating a large amount of energy.

"Fine have it your way, **Take Over:** **Satan Soul**." Mirajane's face gained a satanic smile. "Erza, don't interfere." She added as she rushed Tanaka sending her flying a couple hundred yards and pursued her, leaving Erza alone with Tamori. Erza looked over to the long path of damage Mirajane caused to the forest and took note on how serious she was and smirked.

"Whatever." Erza then looked back to Tamori. "Ok, I guess your opponent is me.

"I guess you're right" Tamori and Erza enter their battle ready stances. "COME, ERZA SCARLET!" The two sword wielder's locked blades.

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**Well there's chapter 2, I understand that you're all probably wondering "WHERE THE HELL IS THE NaMi!?" Don't worry; this is definitely a NaMi story. **


	3. Chapter 3

Back again with another chapter! :D but first I will say that yes, there is an elaborate scheme behind this portion of the story, that's all I will say for now though! And second, Mirajane and Erza (for anyone that's confused) are in there early teens which explain why they insult each other the way they do. Lastly I forgot to mention that this is taking place just before the tenroujima arc XD anyway, Thank you all once again for the feedback and for reading this story. Now, on with the story!

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Deep within the majestic green forest, chaos was set free due to a fight being held between two demons.

"You're….not….half….bad." Mirajane was down on one knee panting. Tanaka was in no better condition, she too was down on one knee panting hard while her eyes were boring a hole into Mirajane.

"Hmph I could say the same about you, it's been awhile since the last time someone's had me this winded in a fight." Tanaka spoke these words with a high level of arrogance in her voice as she stood up. Mirajane stood up as well, now wearing a smug look on her face. The two of them begin slowly walking towards one another. The sky had become darkened by thick gray storm clouds. Mirajane spoke up.

"Should I feel honored?" Her demonic voice echoed. Tanaka's smile faded at this as she gained a more serious demeanor.

"You really are an interesting young girl; it's a shame I'll have to kill you though." Tanaka stated in her own echoing demonic voice. The clouds thickened even more at this point, now looming over the battle field ready to burst at any moment.

"I think it's time," Mirajane started. The two were now ten feet away from each other preparing for their second round of battle. A single rain drop begins its descent to the ground. "For me to show you….WHAT A TRUE DEMON IS!" The single raindrop hit the ground. The two fighters flashed forward at one another so fast that their feet broke a little ground, leaving an imprint.

Mirajane unleashed a barrage of fist and kick combos in what seemed like a blurred flash of darkness. Tanaka did an incredible job of not getting hit and unleashing her own combos, that is until she was kicked on her left side sending her into a tree. Not having any time to regain her composure, she was now under the full force of Mirajane's brutally fast barrage combo only this time she couldn't dodge them. Not letting up for even a second Mirajane continued the assault. This lasted another thirty seconds until she paused while kneeling over her enemy; she prepared her right hand with a spell.

"Had enough?" Mirajane asked this with a stoic facial expression as Tanaka looked up at her with wide eyes. In that same moment a bright streak of lightning flashed behind Mirajane, illuminating her demonic body making her look even more menacing. This filled Tanaka with great anger.

"BITE ME BITCH!" Shocked a little by the response, Mirajane didn't see the fist coming and was sent flying. She managed to correct her involuntary flight midway and flew upwards into the sky and stopped.

"Teh, this is the thanks I get for being nice?" Mirajane then took advantage of her flightless enemy and dove in like a missile. Her right hand drawn back with a spell ready, she released it just before making contacted with her demonic enemy.

"EVIL PUSH!" This ultimately planted Tanaka's body firmly into the ground; she had reverted back to her normal self now baring regular hands. Without a doubt, Tanaka was defeated and unconscious. Mirajane looked up into the sky as the hard falling rain washed over her demonic features. After spending a few moments of just staring she took flight, flying off into the distance.

"I don't have much time left." Was all the takeover mage said as she increased her flight speed.

* * *

Miles away from the demonic battle that had just been resolved, was another fierce battle happening. Two swordsmen, one female and the other a male, did battle in the forest. The two had been at it for awhile now with neither showing signs of quitting just yet. The sound of high carbon steel blades clashing and grinding against each other could be heard ringing from quite a distance. The rain intensified.

"So this is Fairy Tail's titania, Erza Scarlet! I'm very impressed with you I must say, to be able to keep up with my speed is a great feet to come by!" Tamori was swinging viscously at Erza in an attempt to break her guard. After another moment of continuously blocking, Erza leaped back some feet to set a distance between them. Tamori stopped at this and asked.

"What wrong? Am I too much for the almighty titania?"

"No not at all, in fact I'm really disappointed with you to say the least. **REQUIP!**" Keeping the same armor, Erza requiped and obtained two mid length swords. Now duel wielding, Erza was ready to commence the final round to this already dragged out fight between her and the enemy. Tamori, who was already using his duel wield was taking back slightly.

"Are you ready to end this?" Smiling now, Erza stood battle ready once more.

"If you think one extra sword is going to give you an advantage then you're sadly mistaking." Tamori ran at Erza ready to strike. Just as his swords reached her armor, Erza swung her right sword hand downward, deflecting the swords with ease. Grimacing at this, Tamori tried once more. This went on far longer than it should have and Erza had had enough. Her face harden slightly as she swung the two blades she held with wrist snapping speed and sliced right through Tamori's poorly crafted swords, leaving him staring at them in pure disbelief. He walked over to the severed blades and kneeled down over them, looked to Erza.

"But….how? …..tell me…..HOW DID YOU MANAGED TO DESTROY MY SWORDS!?" Tamori yelled as tears begin to flow from his eyes. Erza looked pitifully at the broken swordsman. Putting away her own weapons, she walked over to the weeping man.

"Those swords…were the only thing I had left from them." Erza managed to hear him say that much as he weeps.

"From who? Your guild?" Erza inquired. When Tamori looked up to her and answered, she stood shocked.

"My parents. Those swords were the only thing I had left to remember them by. The blue hilted sword was my mother's and the orange hilt was my father's. They were killed not too long ago by HIM!" Striking the ground with his fist, he shook with anger.

"Him? Who's the one that killed your parents?" Erza now listening to him completely, she was once again shocked by the answer she got in response to her questions.

"That bastard, SHIMATSU!" Thunder broke out over the vicinity just as he announced the killer. Erza's mouth was agape.

"And you're still following him and doing his bidding!?" inquired an angry titania

"It's not like I want to! I was waiting for the perfect moment to strike!" retorted the man angrily. "But then….." he trailed off.

Erza already knew what he would have said next, but she had no idea what was about to happen next.

"So that's it. You knew I killed your parents after all, and you honestly thought that you would avenge their death? How foolish." The two immediately looked to the new voice. There in the flesh stood Shimatsu. "Be gone, I have no more reasons for you to remain here in my presence. **IGNITE**." Various purple lines and magic symbols spread across Tamori's body, seeing this Erza yelled out.

"STOP THIS YOU BASTARD, HE CANT EVEN DEFFEND HIS SELF!" Grabbing her swords Erza started to move towards Shimatsu, but was stopped when Tamori grabbed hold of her hand.

"Thank you Erza Scarlet, for showing me that there's still good people in this twisted world we call home. Good bye." As those final words escaped Tamori's mouth, his body was instantaneously disintegrated. Erza continued to look down at the spot that Tamori was just in. Her arms went limp for a moment, though she was still holding on to her blades. Thunder crackled hard in the sky as the heavy rain drops continued to fall. Shimatsu spoke up.

"Like I said, foolish. He shouldn't have expected anything lesser than that to happen. He always was a failure, just like his parents were. I guess the whole family died as nothing more than tra- ARGH!" Erza cut Shimatsu's disrespectful rambling off by rushing at him and cutting a perfect X across his torso.

"SHUT UP, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TAKE AWAY PEOPLE LIVES BECAUSE YOU WANT TO!" Shimatsu regained his composure while requiping and rushed at Erza. Now suited in full body armor, his fist connected to her jaw as he begins over powering her with brute force. Every hit felt as if she was being beaten with a sledge hammer. Shimatsu stopped for just a second, which was all Erza needed to slash fiercely at his arms. Erza noticed that every slash made a slight ringing sound, this made her back off.

"What kind of magic is that!?" Erza asked now clearly frustrated. Shimatsu laughed.

"Body Armor requip magic one-hundred percent titanium alloy. This armor is completely impenetrable." He noticed that this stunned Erza a bit and decided to use this moment as the time to strike. He rushed at her and begins his over baring punching combo once more. As he was gaining ground he stopped hitting with his left hand as created a spell.

"**Disintegrate: Ignition!**" Erza Stared wide eyed at his left hand as it seemed to be moving in slow motion to her neck. She knew that the moment his hand finally touches her neck she would be marked with the same spell as Tamori was and she would suffer the same fate.

* * *

"**Evil Push!**" Shimatsu's 'impenetrable armor' had just gotten a severe dent to its left side, sending him skidding across the ground for about ten yards. Standing with her back to Erza was none other than Mirajane, still in her take over form. She peered at Erza over her right shoulder with a demonic grin.

"Looks like I made it here just in time, what happened?" She asked while looking around to make sure it was safe. Erza stood up and walked beside her as she requiped just her swords back to just her single usual one.

"This bastard killed off one of his Tamori only after admitting to him that he killed his parents. I'm guessing at some point and time Shimatsu put that Disintegration spell seal on him, he never even knew it was there." Erza tightened her grip on her sword. Mirajane begin doing a few stretches to loosen up.

"I don't have much time left for me in this form; I'm going to be completely exhausted soon. If you really want to defeat him I guess I could help out." Mirajane informed. Erza nodded her head in response.

"Can you give me an estimate of about how much longer you can hold out at least?" Mirajane thought for a moment and responded.

"We got ten minutes and not a second more." Erza nodded an ok in response. Just then the two Fairy Tail mages begin to here heavy footsteps splashing against the muddy water covered ground.

"He's coming." Mirajane announced as she and Erza became battle ready once more. The footsteps got louder and louder until they stopped completely. Mirajane and Erza stood back to back in the makeshift clearing and waited, looking around for any suspicious movement within the area. Suddenly Shimatsu came out charging directly at Erza, who begin charging at him herself with the single her single long sword drawn. Mirajane spun around and flew upward a little to wait for an opportunity to strike. Erza slashed at him fiercely once again exhibiting her immense skills with a sword. Moving in more she delivered a jab that successfully punctured the armor, Shimatsu immediately leaped back to get away from Erza. Mirajane saw this and swooped down to deal damage.

"Come here!" Mirajane landed a crushing blow to his face and sent him streaming through the air as she pursued him unleashing a furry of fist with unremarkable speed. This lasted for roughly two minutes and ten had already passed, she was at her limit. Mirajane through one more punch with everything she had left and cracked his armor in the chest area. Losing her Satan sole form, Mirajane fell back onto the soggy wet forest floor as the rain continued to poor down onto her exhausted form.

"I guess he's all yours then Erza, good luck." Mirajane was out cold.

"Thank you Mirajane." Erza prepared to deliver the final strike to Shimatsu, the moment had finally come. Shimatsu was in the process of getting back up as Erza lunged herself at him with every ounce energy she could summon. With a war cry, Erza jab her blade into the cracked area created by Mirajane. The blade pierced his heart, killing him there on the spot. Erza walked over to Mirajane's sleeping form and put her on her back and begin walking back to the village.

**FLASH BACK END**

* * *

"Ever since then Mirajane and I had a friendly rivalry, nothing ever truly escalating." Erza finally finishing her long story. Natsu just sat there at the table letting all that he had heard set in. Soon Natsu spoke.

"THAT WAS AWSOME, IM ALL FIRED UP NOW!" Breathing fire, Natsu proclaimed this while fully standing on the table.

"SIT DOWN NOW NATSU!" Erza commanded not leaving any room for discussion. Natsu quickly sat back down at the table.

"Hey Erza, you think I could talk Mirajane into doing this mission with me instead?" Erza gave Natsu a knowing look.

"Natsu, you know Mirajane doesn't do missions like that anymore." Natsu looked disappointed at this. Erza then added.

"But I guess you could see if you can convince her into doing it." Just as Erza said this, Mirajane entered the guild hall carrying the small supply of alcohol. Natsu waited till she walked into the storage room and walked in behind her. Mirajane had climbed a small latter to reach the spot on the liquor shelf she needed to restock. She had just finished stocking the last bottle when Natsu walked in. She hadn't paid attention to the sound of the door closing.

"Hey Mirajane how's it going!" Natsu's sudden announcement of presence startled Mirajane causing her to fall backwards off the latter, only to be caught by Natsu.

"Natsu? What're you doing here?" She asked as she was now standing on her on feet. "Did you need me to check off on a job request for you?" Natsu shook his head.

"Noooo um actually I wanted to know if you would do a job with me, you know something simple." Mirajane just stared at Natsu for a moment, this made him extremely nervous. After another moment passed Natsu spoke.

"Eh never mind forget I asked that ill just-"

"Ok." Natsu was cut off by her response and then shocked by what the response was.

"What?" He asked. Mirajane laughed a little and smiled her own trade mark smile.

"I said ok Natsu; I'll go on a job with you." Natsu's face lit up at this.

"ALRIGHT! ILL GO PICK ONE RIGHT NOW!" Natsu yelled while once again breathing fire. Mirajane laughed at Natsu's reaction.

"NATSU CALM DOWN OR WERE GONNA DIE IN HERE!" Natsu calmed down realizing Mirajane was right, they were surrounded by alcohol and it wouldn't end well if it ignited. Smiling afterwards Mirajane added.

"And I'm picking the job, ok?" Natsu nodded his head in agreement.

"Ok Mirajane, I'll just meet you out front then." She nodded at him and went back finishing up her job in the storage room.

* * *

**FINALLY some interaction between Natsu and Mirajane, NaMi moments are soon to come. Still trying to keep a natural feel to the relationship development!**


	4. Chapter 4

Back with another chapter. Thank you EVERYONE for the feedback XD. Moving onward!

* * *

Natsu sat patiently at the bar as he watched Mirajane stand in front of the request board while holding her right index finger to her bottom lip, in search of a job she liked. Moments passed and Natsu had begun to feel drowsy. Just as he begins to rest his head down on to his arms, Mirajane walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. Lifting his head, Natsu was greeted with a smiling Mirajane in front of him.

"I found one we can do Natsu, look!" Natsu looked at the request, his face fell. It was a request to help deliver flowers to a flouriest in Hargeon town.

"Wow Mirajane this um, sounds cool" Mirajane could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"What's wrong Natsu, you don't like the job I picked?" Sniffling, she looked as though she was about to cry. Natsu begin to wave his hands in front of himself.

"Nooo Mirajane its great, I like it really!" Natsu said reassuring her, hoping to keep the takeover mage's tears from spilling out. Mirajane smiled while Natsu breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great, meet me at the train station in an hour!" Mirajane turned and walked off to the exit of the guild. Natsu waited a little bit before he did so as well.

* * *

An hour passed, Natsu and Mirajane were at the train station waiting to board and depart. Natsu was wearing his usual outfit as was Mirajane; the train was all clear for boarding. The two Fairy Tail mages entered the train and found a window seat to sit at. This part of the train was vacant, not too many people needed to go to Hargeon city apparently. They sat down as the train began to move, and Natsu to be over taken by motion sickness. Moaning sickly, Natsu hung his head out of the window. Mirajane noticed this immediately and gasped.

"Natsu!" Mirajane slid over closer to Natsu and pulled him in from the window.

"I'm sorry Natsu but it's just too dangerous to hang your head out of the window like that. You can lay your head in my lap to help ease the nausea." Natsu complied with no fuss and laid his head down into Mirajane's lap, he felt comfortable and a little less nauseated now.

"How do you feel now?" Mirajane looked down at him worriedly as she waited for a response from the salamander.

"Thank you Mirajane, I feel a little bit better now." Natsu answered as he adjusted himself in her lap while yawning.

"You're welcome Natsu." Mirajane noticed he was drifting off to sleep a little and laughed. "Are you going to sleep on me Natsu?" Natsu snickered a little bit.

"I felt so comfortable that I figured ill take a nap, sorry." Mirajane just sighed and snickered as well.

"You don't have to apologize to me Natsu; I don't mind you sleeping in my lap at all." At this Natsu drifted off to sleep, softly snoring in her lap.

'_Natsu sure is warm.'_ Mirajane thought to herself then smiled as she too begin to take a light a nap, while resting her right hand on the side of the dragon slayers head.

* * *

The train ride was quiet for the most part, allowing the two mages to nap in peace. Mirajane begin to wake up from her light nap just as the train was pulling into station, she shook Natsu.

"Natsu wake up, it's time to exit the train. He stirred a little bit and opened his eyes while sitting up. The two exited the train and begin to walk around Hargeon town. This town was nice. Flower's lined the streets with elegance and bright color. Every breath taken was a sweet delectable one. Natsu stopped walking as did Mirajane.

"So Mirajane, where is this flower shop were supposed to help out at again?" Mirajane furrowed her brows and pulled out the request again. She scanned over it quickly then looked around and sighed.

"Natsu, were standing in front of it." She told him while pointing to the right; Natsu rubbed his head and laughed. Mirajane grabbed his hand and pulled him into the store. They entered the store and were immediately over taken by the different assortment of flowers. The arrangement was topnotch. The two mages walked up to the counter and ringed the bell, a door closed from the back.

"Just a minute please." An elderly sounding woman called out. There was a loud sound of something heavy falling followed by a scream from the old lady. Natsu and Mirajane reacted at the scream and ran behind the counter through the open doorway that lead to a new room. When they got there they found an elderly woman lying on the floor with a big potted plant on top of her. Natsu lifted the plant off her as Mirajane helped the old woman to her feet. She thanked them.

"Oh goodness thank you young ones, who might you be?" Natsu smiled and introduced them.

"You're very welcome and were the Fairy Tail mages you requested." A look of realization appeared on the old woman's face, she smiled.

"I'm so glad your guild was able to honor my request. It started three years ago. My usual delivery man showed up on time just as he always did but this time, without my Moondragons. He has said consistently that every time he gets halfway here, he's ambushed by a small group of bandits. They only ever want the flowers. The delivery man tried fighting back one time but in the end he was beaten badly by them. Now, he's told me that he refuses to go get the flowers again until those bandits are dealt with." Mirajane and Natsu frowned at this.

"Hmmm…..what would bandits be wanting with flowers in the first place. What time does the delivery man arrive and is it every day?" Natsu asked the woman.

"He comes only on week days, but he's already been here today and won't be back until Monday." She answered him. It was a nice Friday afternoon and the sun was beginning to set on what had been a warm relaxing day in Hargeon town.

"Ok, Mirajane it looks like we're spending the weekend here." Mirajane smiled and nodded her head in agreement. The elderly woman smiled as well, grateful for the help.

"Bless you young ones, can I please have your names?" She inquired.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel and she's Mirajane Strauss." Natsu informed. The old lady smiled.

"Marvelous!" She said

* * *

It was early night now as the salamander and the demon left the flower shop. The streets were beginning to thin out in traffic as people were heading home to rest. Natsu and Mirajane walked amongst them in no particular rush to be anywhere. They had decided to look for a place to stay first before going out to get dinner.

"She was nice enough wouldn't you say Natsu?" Mirajane asked, striking up another conversation between them. Natsu grinned.

"Yeah she was, it just makes me want to catch the bastards that's stealing her flowers and beat there asses even more!" Natsu was holding a flaming fist of righteousness as Mirajane giggled at him.

"Me too, it's not right to steal from people." She agreed, adding in her own opinion.

They continued walking a few more blocks down until they reached a hotel.

"The Seaside Inn." Natsu read the name.

"Looks nice, let's stay here." Natsu nodded his head as he walked inside with Mirajane.

* * *

Mirajane and Natsu entered the room they were going to be sleeping in. Upon entering the two noticed the same thing; there was only a single queen sized bed. Natsu just stared silently as Mirajane just walked in and sat down her traveling bag and begin looking through it. Noticing that she wasn't followed into the room, she looked up at Natsu who was still standing in the door way.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" Mirajane asking this seemed to wake him from his stupor.

"Um….there's only one bed Mirajane." He informed her. She just looked at him.

"Oh….you don't want to share a bed with me Natsu?" Natsu's cheeks gained a light pink tint to them.

"No no nooo that's not it at all, I just thought you wanted your own bed to sleep in or something." Mirajane giggled.

"I don't mind sharing a bed with you Natsu." Natsu became more at ease now and walked into the room while closing the door behind him. He walked over to the right side of the bed which was by the window and sat down. Mirajane was done looking through her travel bag as was Natsu since he packed light.

"So, what are we to do about dinner?" asked a hungry Natsu. Mirajane begin to think.

"Well we don't have too much money on us at the moment…." She trailed off. "We could buy food and cook it here, which would be cheaper than eating out." Natsu looked skeptical at this.

"You know how to cook?" Natsu asked her. She nodded and begin to write on a piece of paper.

"I know a thing or two about cooking. Here, take this." She handed him a small list of items. "Go get those items and bring them back. Now go, I'll get things prepared for cooking." Mirajane begin rummaging through the pots and pans, tossing the ones she was using into the sink. Natsu nodded and walked out of the room as Mirajane begin scrubbing the dishes clean.

* * *

Natsu walked into the market area of Hargeon town, this part of town was still filled with people out shopping or just lounging around. Looking on the list he went for the first item needed, pork cutlets. He found a butcher shop just a little ways from where he just was.

"Welcome sir, how may I help you!?" The man was tall and muscular with a tan to his skin, and had a thick mustache. Natsu walked up to the man at the counter and showed him the list of items he was out searching for, the man grinned.

"This is excellent; I have everything you need in one convenient place!" The man yelled excitedly.

"Alright!" Natsu was now just as excited. The man reached into to the freezer and pulled out a huge slab of pork and sliced off fifty perfectly cut pieces. Natsu was overjoyed, the man even through in the bread crumbs and vegetables for free. Having paid the man for the pork, the dragon slayer made his way back to the Inn.

* * *

It didn't take Mirajane long to scrub the dishes clean. She had everything she was going to use for cooking ready and the plates were set on the table in the room. Now, she was reading through a book she brought with her while laying on the bed relaxing casually. Hearing the door being unlocked, she inserted a book mark into the book as Natsu walked in with the groceries. She stood up and walked over to him in the kitchen part of the room and grabbed the groceries from him.

"Wow Natsu, this is really heavy. How much pork did you get?" He chuckled while rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"Let's just say I found an extremely friendly butcher who was happy to assist me." Mirajane sighed.

"No kidding, well I'm about to start cooking now so go take a shower." Natsu groaned.

"Cant I just wait until after dinnerrrrr?" he whined. Mirajane just smiled.

"If you don't shower now, then you won't be eating anything." By the time she finished talking, Natsu had already ran off and started up the shower.

* * *

Dinner was done and over with, it was late at night now. Mirajane had just come out of the shower and was joining a lounging Natsu in bed under the covers. She was wearing a simple pink night gown while Natsu was just wearing casual shorts for sleeping with no shirt on. He was staring off into space with a serious expression and Mirajane took notice.

"What are you thinking about Natsu?" He seemed to had been awaken from his thoughts as he sighed.

"I was trying to figure out what bandits would want with flowers, it just doesn't seem right. If I was a bandit, I would rob people of their money or jewelry. I think that would be the most common thing to do, wouldn't you agree Mirajane?" It was a little strange to here Natsu talking like this. He was pointing out important information that they should really consider and think on. Mirajane begin to wonder, was he always like this?

"Yeah, it's very strange indeed." Mirajane yawned. "You want to spend some time talking about it in the morning before we leave out?" Natsu nodded his head as he closed his eyes.

"Sure, we can do that. Good night." Natsu then laid flat on his back, as did Mirajane. Natsu was asleep now, snoring softly. Mirajane soon fell asleep as well.

* * *

**Another one down, many more to go hopefully! I must admit, the week days do slow me down considerably thanks to school but none the less ill manage somehow. Hopefully it doesn't feel like I'm rushing into the relationship part just yet. I hope this chapter was enjoyable to you all and as always please leave feedback, thank you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone I'm very, very sorry for the wait. I'm back again with a new chapter finally :D**

* * *

It was early morning; the sun hadn't begun its ascension over the horizon just yet. The hotel room was dark and quiet; Natsu and Mirajane were sound asleep. In her sleep, Mirajane subconsciously clung on to Natsu's left arm while resting her head in the base of his neck. Natsu begin to stir a little as he awakened. He noticed that his left arm was warm and wouldn't move too easily. Looking over slightly, he found Mirajane clinging to him in her sleep. This caught the dragon slayer off guard.

'_She's even more beautiful in her sleep….'_ He turned his head to hers, closing his eyes again. With Mirajane resting her head in the base of his neck, he was able to smell her hair. Natsu's cheeks became pink as he inhaled her hair's scent, it smelled amazing.

'_Wow, her hair smells of strawberries…..'_ Natsu lied there for a little longer, enjoying the sweet scent of her hair. His enjoyment of the sweet scent however was disturbed as he begin to think about what he was doing.

'_Wait no, this is wrong! What am I doing, this is Mirajane!?'_ He begin trying to slowly slide out of the bed, being careful enough as to not wake the sleeping take over mage. Managing to get free, he quickly got dressed and headed for the door. Just as he grabbed the handle, Mirajane called out to him drowsily.

"Natsu? Where are you going? The sun hasn't risen yet." She was lying down on her left side under the cover looking at him with half lidded sleepy eyes. Natsu stopped and turned around while scratching the back of his head with a single right hand.

"H-hey Mirajane, I'm just going out to for a walk to clear my head."

"Oh. Give me a second to get dressed, I'll come with yo- "Mirajane was cut off by Natsu.

"N-no Mirajane, you don't have to come with me. I'm just going over to the market area then coming back, you want anything?" Mirajane thought for a short moment then answered.

"Just bring back some juice, strawberry preferably." Natsu nodded his head as he turned and opened the door, exiting the room quickly. The still drowsy Mirajane rolled back over onto her right side.

'_I wonder what that was all about….' _She wondered as she fell back to sleep.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon; Natsu had just made it to the market district of Hargeon town. It was quiet; the majority of people were in bed still sleeping. Though it was morning, the sky looked as though it was about to rain soon.

The dragon slayer found a small juice shop and entered. Walking in, he saw many upon many different flavors of juice and juice mix packs. He walked further in and found a wall dedicated to just fruit flavored juices.

'Raspberry, Blueberry, Grape, Orange, Strawber-'Natsu paused as he found the strawberry juice. Seeing this made him think back to the pleasant scent he woke up to. 'Mirajane…'

"Good morning sir, how may I help?" Natsu jolted at the announced presence of the shop owner. It was young woman that looked to be around the age of twenty five. She had short brown hair that was curled outwards, and she didn't seem to be over 5'7 in height. Natsu spun around to see the owner.

"Good morning, I want to buy twelve of these please." The woman smiled and eagerly begin to add up the total. Once she was done, she bagged them up and handed them to him. The dragon slayer thanked the woman.

"Great, thanks!" The woman bid him a friendly good buy.

"You're welcome please come again!"

* * *

Natsu picked up a few breakfast items for cooking and walked back to the Inn. He walked into the room he and Mirajane was staying in where he found her standing out on the balcony with the door open. Setting down the groceries, he walked over to the balcony door and walked out to join her. The takeover mage noticed his presence and happily greeted him.

"Welcome back Natsu. How was your walk?" Natsu scratched the back of his head one handedly while smiling.

"It was fine Mirajane, it felt nice out." She looked at him then looked back out to the ocean.

"Oh, that's good to hear then. What was bothering you, if you don't mind me asking? Was it about the bandits?" Mirajane noticed that Natsu seemed to freeze up at this.

"O-Oh it was nothing serious really, I just needed some fresh air is all ha-ha." Mirajane frowned a little.

"Then if it wasn't anything serious and you really were just walking, why didn't you want me to come with you? We are partners after all." Natsu looked at her and he saw a small mix of disappointment and concern.

"It really wasn't anything, I just told you to stay so you could sleep in longer. I brought back food for you to cook for us and the strawberry juice you asked for." Mirajane stared at him with analyzing eyes and then smiled.

"Ok Natsu, ill go ahead and get things prepared for breakfast." Mirajane turned and walked back into the room followed by Natsu. She was walking over to the kitchen area while grabbing a frying pan to cook in. Mirajane washed the pan thoroughly as she grabbed a few eggs, bacon and cheese. She was making Tamagoyaki. As she begun to cook, she noticed Natsu had gotten back into the pair of shorts he slept in and was now working out with no shirt. He was doing pushups, sit ups and various other muscle training exercises. His face bore a look of determination in what he was doing. He stood up and began stretching exercises, trying to keep down the chance of getting a cramp while exercising. Looking over to Mirajane, he flashed his trade mark smile. She hadn't noticed this due to the fact that she was in thought.

'_When did Natsu start getting muscle detail like that, he's filling out nicely...' _A blush adorned her cheeks as she noticed the light made his sweat covered body glistened. Natsu's smile faded as he became a little worried.

"What's wrong Mirajane? Are you ok? Your cheeks are a little pink." This snapped Mirajane out of thought as she turned away from him and back to the food she was cooking.

"Y-Yes Natsu, I'm fine. You probably should go shower now, breakfast is almost ready." Natsu sagged his shoulders in defeat. Knowing the penalty for not doing it, he decided to go ahead then. Once Natsu was in the shower and Mirajane could hear the water, she breathed a sigh of relief.

'_What am I thinking? Looking at Natsu like that….' _Mirajane thought to herself as she started fixing and setting the plates. _'Then again, what's a little admiration going to do anyway?' _Smiling a little at that thought, she heard the water from the shower stop.

Natsu had came out of the bathroom and sat down at the table with Mirajane. The two of them laughed and talked about random things in general while enjoying the breakfast. This was a great morning.

* * *

They had decided on going for a leisurely stroll around Hargeon Town after eating. The sky was still cloudy as if it was going to rain soon, but they didn't mind. Mirajane was walking with her hands behind her back while taking deliberate long steps. Natsu had both of his hands behind his head and just walking casually. Town's people were all out still going about their daily lives as if there wasn't any chance of rain. Mirajane had wanted to go to the park to further enjoy the day even more, Natsu agreed with her. The two mages continued walking until they made it to the park. Natsu found a park bench and sat down as he watched Mirajane marvel at the vast amount of flowers.

"Wooow Natsu come look at this one, it's a pink lotus!" She waved him over to her. Natsu walked up next to her on her right and gazed at the flower on the edge of the fountain. Natsu saw the look of awe on her face and smiled.

"It's really nice Mirajane." She nodded her head and continued to look at the flower.

"I want to have my own flower garden someday, it would be so beautiful." Natsu put his left hand on her right shoulder.

"Mirajane, I'm sure you will get one without a doubt ha-ha!" She looked him in the eyes, still smiling.

"I hope so." Mirajane said as she reached out to touch the flower. The first drop of rain fell down onto right hand.

"We should start heading back; I just felt a rain drop." Natsu nodded as he begun to walk back to the Inn, Mirajane followed suit.

* * *

It was dark night now, the rain poured hard as it washed its self against the window fiercely. The two Fairy Tail mages didn't mind though, they had already eaten dinner and were lounging around. Mirajane was reading a book while Natsu was just lying back on the bed beside her. Natsu was in the shorts he slept in while being topless and Mirajane was wearing her pink night gown. Mirajane stopped reading and looked over to the dragon slayer. He was spaced out, deep in thought. She reached a hand out shook him gently.

"Hey, Natsu what are thinking about?" He just closed his eyes and said.

"Igneel." Her face gained a look of surprise at his answer.

"What about Igneel?" Natsu begin to explain.

"I remember back to when I was small child on days like this, I would always be able to sleep under one of Igneel's wings. It would be so warming, even though it could be freezing cold outside. I always felt like there couldn't be a better father out there for me and how lucky I was, he was the best. Some days I really miss him a lot and that only makes me want to find him even more, I can't give up searching." Mirajane placed a hand over her heart as it felt weakened by his words. She could hear the nostalgia, sincerity, and devotion in his voice.

"Natsu, that's so sad…." He just snickered a little.

"It is, but it's not going to be like this for ever. I'm going to find him and my questions will be answered." Natsu got up from the bed and walked over to the kitchen. He came back with two juice bottles and gave Mirajane one. He sat back on to the bed under with his legs under the cover and rested his back against the bed post just as Mirajane was.

"Mirajane, can I ask you something?" She nodded her head while wondering what it might be.

"How exactly did you get your Satan Soul Takeover form?" Mirajane paused and looked down; closing the book she had opened. She grabbed her left arm Natsu saw that he may have just struck a serious nerve and tried to correct his mistake.

"Never mind Mirajane you don't have to-"He was cut off by her.

"No…..I'll tell you." Mirajane sighed. "When I was thirteen, our parents died and life changed for me and my siblings from that day forward. Things were decent at first, our town and church took care of us well. They helped us out when it came to needing food or other necessities, until that day. There was an evil spirit, a demon terrorizing the church." She paused there and tightened the grip on her arm more as a tear fell from her eyes. "All I wanted to do was protect the people who cared for us for so long." Natsu was looking at her, full of concern.

"What….happened?" He asked skeptically.

"I...removed the demon spirit from the church using Takeover magic. When I did though there was a side effect to it, my right arm was that of the demon. The town's people went insane. They stoned our home, cursed me and anyone who was affiliated with me." At this point Mirajane begun to sob a little. Natsu stared wide eyed at her as he listened to her. "I remember….sitting on the floor of our home crying, wishing I never went to that church. We couldn't stay there any longer, we had to leave. I lead us far away from that town; I had no idea where we were headed. Traveling was beginning to wear us down; I thought for sure we would die of starvation eventually. Thoughts like that kept me pushing further though, I had to for the sake of my siblings. After traveling around a bit more, we came across Magnolia Town. It was beautiful, our home town paled in comparison. We walked through Magnolia and stumbled across Fairy Tail. I entered the guild hall, bringing Lissana and Elfman with me. After telling Master Makarov what happened we were instantly members. My brother and sister adjusted and fitted in just fine but, I didn't talk to anyone. The guild some of the guild members didn't even bother talking to me, believing it to pointless. I looked at my siblings and saw the joy and happiness on their faces. I decided to leave them there, without saying a word to them. Knowing they were in a safe place was enough for me. I walked through the city, staying alone and away from others. Suddenly though, I heard my name being called. To my surprise I turned around and saw Lissana and Elfman, running towards me in partial take over forms telling me to come back and that I wasn't alone." The last word squeaked out as she now fully sobbing. "S-so, I stayed I stayed at Fairy Tail with them." Natsu wrapped his arms around Mirajane, bringing into a firm embrace. She paused at first but then just buried face into his right shoulder, weeping loudly. Natsu sighed and begin speaking in a warm soothing tone.

"I'm sorry Mirajane; I shouldn't have let you tell me this even if you wanted to. It had to be hard to bring those terrible memories to surface like that. Who would have ever thought that people could be so cruel? You're strong Mirajane." The Takeover mage's weeping begun to calm down as clenched on to Natsu. After a moment of silence, she spoke up again.

"Well, now you know why I was called Demon Mirajane." Natsu shook his head.

"No, Mirajane I don't. You never wanted to be a demon anything. From the very start all you really wanted was to help people. If that isn't true then you wouldn't have even gone to the church that day to help." Mirajane leaned back some, still sniffling and looked him in the eyes with a shocked expression. Natsu went on talking. "Now look at you. You've became a beautiful, loving, caring woman that everyone loves. You have tons and tons of fans. You finally have the chance to live the life you deserved all along." Mirajane couldn't believe the words she was hearing. When did Natsu become so mature? Mirajane begin to sob again but this time she sobbed tears of happiness.

"Th-Thank you Na-Natsu." Natsu just nodded his head and continued to let her have her moment, she needed it. When he felt her calming down, he got up from the bed and grabbed tissue for her. Afterwards he cut off the lights in the room and laid back down in bed. Mirajane had laid down on her left side with her back to Natsu.

"Natsu?" Hearing her he answered.

"Yes Mirajane?" She was silent for a moment.

"Can you, hold on to me…. I don't want feel alone." Natsu was shocked to say the least but complied.

"Sure, Mira." He wrapped his arms around her as they begin to fall asleep.

"Thank you, Natsu." Mirajane was now smiling.

* * *

**I hope I haven't pushed things too far with them just yet. Thank you for reading this chapter and again I am very sorry for the wait but I'm getting ready for some important school exams next week. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Also Tamagoyaki is a rolled omelet made up of several layers of egg for those who were wondering.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 has finally arrived! For those of you who are reading and keeping up with this story I want to thank you in advance for your patience, I know how annoying it could be when waiting for a new chapter to be uploaded.**

* * *

Light rain fell soothingly to the ground, giving the quiet town of Hargeon peace at mind. Gentle winds graced the town as well, bringing along with them fresh cool air and rain water. The sun was just peeking over the horizon shining dimly into the room the two mages rested in. The dragon slayer was still holding on to the takeover mage in a secure embrace as they slept. Mirajane begin to stir a bit as she yawned and opened her eyes. She tried to stretch but felt her arms being constricted; she looked down to see why. Just below her breast, Natsu's arms were wrapped around her firmly. This confused her at first until she remembered what all happened last night.

'_He held onto me the whole time.'_ Being held so close to him allowed her to feel just how warm he was_ 'Natsu….' _She smiled as she snuggled into him even more and fell asleep once again.

* * *

It was just past noon as Natsu begin to awaken from his slumber. There wasn't any need to wake up early as they were away from the guild and their job didn't really start until tomorrow, so sleeping in was ok. He noticed his arms felt light and free, Mirajane was gone. Quickly he sat up and looked around, spotting a note left on the table. Getting out of bed and walking over to it, he opened it and read.

_Natsu,_

_I left out to get some items I wanted to cook for us today and didn't want to wake you from your sleep. Don't worry about me, I'll be back shortly._

_Mirajane_

'_So that's it, ok' _Natsu sighed and smiled at the letter, while placing it back on the table. He opened the balcony door to let in the fresh air while he begun his usual exercises.

* * *

About an hour or so later, Mirajane returned with the groceries. Upon entering the room she heard the shower running and called out to Natsu.

"Natsu, I'm back."She heard the water stop and the shower curtains slide.

"I'll be right out." The fire mage responded to her.

Mirajane went ahead and begin sorting out the items she had brought. Natsu came out of the bathroom room in his sleep attire with a towel thrown across his left shoulder.

"That water felt amazing!" He said now feeling rejuvenated. Mirajane giggled at him.

"Well I guess that's my cue to go enjoy a shower too then, and be ready to cook when I come out" The last part of what she said caught his attention the most.

"Cook? Only thing I ever cooked was fish on a stick." The takeover mage had gathered her Bath supplies and was walking into the bathroom.

"Don't worry Natsu; I'm going to teach you. Do me a favor and start washing the frying pan and crock pot." She closed the door to the bathroom and started the shower. Natsu begin to wash the dishes they were using for cooking. While washing the dishes, Natsu could here Mirajane humming a delectable tune. Sure he's heard her sing before, actually the whole guild has but this was different somehow. He listened to her more carefully, trying to hear as much of it as he could. While listening he hadn't realized how long he had been standing there, motionless. Feeling water around the bottom of his feet woke him from his stupor as the sink was overflowing. He quickly stopped the water and drained the sink while wiping up the water. Mirajane came out of the bathroom in her sleep attire just as Natsu did with a refreshed look, she gasped when she saw the water.

"Did something happen?" Natsu shook his head.

"No, I wasn't paying attention and the sink over flowed. How was your shower?" Mirajane gave him a smile and a thumb up.

"Top notch, you were right about the water feeling good." Natsu grinned at her response.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now, what are we supposed to be cooking?" The takeover mage held her right index finger to her right jaw with her left hand on her left hip.

"Miso Ramen, it's pretty easy and doesn't take too long to prepare." Mirajane walked over to the stove and set the cooking temperature. Once the pan and pot was at the desired temperature, she asked Natsu to come over to her.

"Ok Natsu I'm going to teach you first about cutting meat properly, give me your hand." Natsu held out his right hand. She moved herself behind him while hold his hand. Using his hand she made him pick up the butcher knife. "Now, use your left hand to hold the slab of meat in place. While you're doing that I want you to carefully cut off a semi-thick slice." Though she held his hand in hers, he was doing most of the work himself while every other slice she would help guide his hand back to the correct spot. Soon she was able to take her hand off of his completely as he continued to slice the slab correctly.

"Natsu you're doing great, keep it up!" He snickered and nodded his head.

"Thanks for teaching me Mira."He replied as she smiled at him.

"You're welcome and it's not over yet, next were cutting the vegetables." The cooking session was a fun one. Mirajane enjoyed teaching Natsu and he enjoyed learning a new skill.

* * *

It was night fall now; the two mages were in bed preparing for sleep. Mirajane was reading her usual bedtime novel while Natsu just rested with his hands behind his head.

"Hey Mira, can I ask you something?" She looked over to him.

"Hmm? What is it?" Natsu looked away from her a little while blushing slightly.

"I uh…. I heard you humming in the shower today and, wanted to know what it was you were humming." She gave him a warm smile.

"It was a song my mother used to sing to me and my siblings before we went to sleep, I didn't know I was humming that loudly sorry." She apologized, Natsu shook his head.

"Why are you apologizing? I loved it, it sounded amazing!" He was looking at her with eyes filled with excitement. She couldn't help but to blush a bit due to his admiration.

"You really think so? That song is so old." Natsu nodded his head while smiling.

"Old or not, it really is amazing. The tone of it is so soft and soothing; I see why it was used as a lullaby." Mirajane closed her book as she reached over and cut the light off on her side of the bed. She rolled over to her left side with her back facing Natsu.

"Maybe I'll sing it for you someday, just for you only." Natsu reached over to his side of the bed and turned off his light as well, the room was filled with darkness. Lying on his back, he smiled.

"I'd love that." He pulled the cover up on him more. Just as he was about to fall asleep Mirajane called his name.

"Natsu…can I sleep in your arms again, I mean if that's ok…" She could feel him roll over to face her as he wrapped his arms around her just under her breast; he pulled her in closer to him.

"It's always ok with me; I thought that you wouldn't want me to do it again." Natsu felt her hair brush against his face as she shook her head no.

"It's ok with me too Natsu, you don't have to wait for me to ask. I want you to hold me; you make me feel secure and comfortable. I really shouldn't be saying this." She was blushing a little more than she usually would and her heart beat spiked more, it was as if she was making a confession.

"I'm really glad to hear you say that because I like the feeling of you being in my arms. I like the feeling of holding someone so close to me in my sleep, it puts me at ease." Natsu couldn't believe he was saying this, and to Mirajane at that. Unknown to him though, Mirajane was in shock. She couldn't believe Natsu was feeling the same as she was about this sort of action; she smiled as she closed her eyes.

"I didn't know you felt that way about it; I thought it was just me." Natsu grinned at that as he too closed his eyes.

"I could say the same thing." He yawned as he was getting tired.

"We should be getting to sleep; we have a long day ahead of us you know." Mirajane reminded him.

"You're right, Goodnight Mira." Mirajane adjusted herself in his embrace.

"Goodnight Natsu." The two were soon undertaken by sleep.

* * *

It was morning and the sun was shining brightly outside, Natsu groaned as he woke up. He saw that Mirajane was still asleep, he sighed and shook her.

"Mira it's time to wake up, its morning." Seeing her stir and begin to wake up, he got out of bed and started getting dressed. Mirajane got out of bed as well and began stretching while yawning.

"I can't believe its morning already, night didn't last long at all." Mirajane walked over to where she placed her usual dress and entered the bathroom. Natsu sat at the table as he awaited her return, which wasn't too long as she reentered the room.

"Ok Natsu I'm ready, we can leave now." They walked out of the room door.

* * *

It didn't take them long to reach the flower shop they visited Friday. They entered the shop and rung the service bell. There was the sound of a door closing and footsteps coming from the back.

"Just a moment I'll be right there." Appearing from the back room was the same elderly woman they met before. "Ahhh Natsu and Mirajane, It's good seeing you two here so early. The delivery man should be here anytime now." As if on cue, the delivery man entered the shop.

"Good morning how is everyone, Are you two the Fairy Tail mages?" Natsu pumped a fist of fire with a grin while Mirajane simply gave her usual smile.

"You bet we are." Natsu answered the man. The delivery man reached into his pocket and pulled out a map. It had a long red arrow drawn on it marking a location.

"Great then I'll show you what I know you'll need." He placed a finger on the map. "This map begins all the way from this shop, straight to the Moon Dragon flowers. I use this root because truthfully it's the easiest and fastest way for a delivery carriage to take." He moved his finger to the middle of the line and tapped it. "Right here, this is the spot I would get robbed. If you walked this path exactly I'm one-hundred percent positive that they will appear and attempt to rob you." Mirajane and Natsu wore an angry facial expression, Mirajane inquired the man.

"Can you give us any sort of description of the men sir?" Natsu nodded his head in agreement to her question, the man began to think.

"There wasn't much to them, they had on full body cloaks." He shook his head feeling disappointed that he couldn't give better information, Natsu pondered over the small amount of information.

"So were looking for fully cloaked men along a carriage trail, it's not much to go by but I'm sure we'll manage. If they attack us we could find out who they are and who they're working for." Natsu told the man. He collected the map and handed it to Mirajane for safe keeping.

"Please be careful you two." The elderly woman said expressing her concern. Natsu flashed a toothy grin and gave a thumb up.

"Don't worry; we'll have your flowers here in no time. Let's go Mira; I'm eager to meet our thieves." Natsu emphasized this by bumping his fist together.

* * *

Finding the trail the delivery man used took the two mages no time using the map, they were walking north of Hargeon Town. Mirajane was reading the map to make sure they were headed in the right direction, using land marks circled on the map for references. They continued marching on until they reached a cave. Reaching back Natsu grabbed hold of Mirajane's hand while he made a fire with the other.

"Stay close to me." He instructed to which she nodded her head and followed him. They moved cautiously through the cave until they began to see a bright light at the end of it. Natsu looked back to Mirajane and she nodded for him to move onward. They reached the light in the cave and Mirajane let go of Natsu's hand and gasped. It was incredible, hills and of Moon Dragon flowers filled her vision. Natsu stood in awe at the sheer amount of flowers he was looking at before him.

"There's so many of them." He voiced his thoughts aloud as Mirajane rushed past him to see them up close.

"They're so beautiful, aren't they Natsu?" Natsu looked to Mirajane and saw her smiling happily at him. He wasn't sure what it was exactly but she looked especially beautiful in that moment as a gentle breeze blew across the hills, blowing her hair and dress ever so slightly. He smiled back at her.

"Yeah, they look great." She giggled at his response.

"Come on, let's get started picking them." She said breaking his thoughts.

"Right!" He rushed over to her side and began picking flowers as well.

* * *

It was approaching noon as the Fairy Tail mages were walking back to Hargeon Town with four full sacks of Moon Dragons. Things had gone flawlessly for them; they were able to find and pick the flowers and were bringing them back to town. They had been talking about random events and scenarios when suddenly three cloaked figures appeared in the road. Natsu and Mirajane stopped.

"Stop there you two, we know there's Moon Dragons in those sacks and will be taking them." The Man had a gruff voice and was wielding a sword. Natsu sat down his flowers as did Mirajane and entered a battle stance.

"Ha, what makes you think we'll just let you walk out of here with these flowers huh?" The Man laughed at him as he motioned for his two companions to prepare for a battle.

"Listen kid, you're making a mistake here. You should leave while you still can." After seeing that the two mages weren't moving, the man charged at them. Natsu motioned for Mirajane to stay back as he rushed at them as well. He performed a series of flips, kicks, and punches ultimately leaving the trio brutally beaten and unconscious.

"Don't you EVER attack another delivery man again, understood?" The dragon slayer awaited there response which was just them moaning in pain. Natsu breathed fire into the air for intimidation.

"I SAID, UNDERSTOOD!?" He shouted loudly. The Three men immediately leaped to their feet and began bowing and apologizing. Natsu pointed his finger into a general direction. "Good now, GET OUT OF HERE." The trio split without so much as even saying a word. Natsu sighed and picked up his sack of flowers, he heard Mirajane giggling.

"What's so funny Mira?" He asked her genuinely confused. She picked up her sack as well and began walking with him following beside her.

"It's nothing." Was all she said as she giggled more, which only annoyed Natsu more.

"Whaaaaat? Come on Miraaaa you're lying, tell meeee!" He pleads were in vain as she began to start fully laughing now.

"No, I'm not telling you so stop begging Natsu!" The dragon slayer sagged his shoulders in defeat as he marched along with her back to the Town.

* * *

They finally arrived at the flower shop, it was evening now. The elderly woman was watering her flowers in the shop as they entered. She stopped and looked to them. Dropping her water canister and rushing over, she greeted them with a hopeful smile. The mages handed her the four sacks of flowers.

"My Moon Dragons! Thank you, thank you young ones!" The woman immediately rushed off to get pots for the flowers. Natsu and Mirajane felt equally happy for making the old woman happy, it felt good. The woman returned with the reward money and insisted they took it. Afterwards they sat down for awhile just talking about flowers and other plants, much to Mirajane's delight.

* * *

Later that night Natsu and Mirajane were fast asleep with Mirajane being wrapped in the firm secure arms of the dragon slayer. For the most part, they had a great day. This marked the end of their stay in Hargeon town. The next day they would be heading home, their job was done.

* * *

**Sorry for the wait but as I said at the end of the last chapter, it was exam week and I was busy. I hope you all liked this chapter and I apologize for what ever errors I over looked, I plan to go back and fix the errors in the previous chapters at some point. See ya next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Another late post but, an update is an update right? Anyway, I am very happy and relieved that you guys enjoyed the last chapter as I had fun writing it. Enough talk from me though, on with the story!**

* * *

The following morning, the two mages stood in line at the train station ready to board for departure. There weren't too many people leaving the city.

"I'm amazed at how few of people there are leaving here." Natsu spoke up breaking the silence, Mirajane nodded.

"Yeah me too, but then again I can't really see a reason to leave here in the first place." Just as Mirajane finished, the train arrived and was ready for boarding. The takeover mage and dragon slayer found an empty train car with windows and settled in, Natsu immediately laid his head into Mirajane's lap and wrapped his arms around her waist. As the train began to move, Mirajane looked out of the window at the town they were leaving behind. She felt a bit of sadness at that thought but soon was happy again when she thought about where they were going. They would be returning to the greatest guild in all of Fiore, Fairy Tail. Natsu looked up at her and saw her smiling while looking out the window.

"Hey, what are thinking about Mira?" He asked softly.

"I knew that we had to return home at some point, but I really enjoyed my time here with you on this job. It had been so long since I had done a job this long, and having you along made it even more amazing. When we get back to the guild, its back to waiting tables and bartending for me." Natsu could hear the slight disappointment in her voice and tighten his grip around her waist.

"Who said this had to be the last time? It doesn't have to end here; we could always go on a job whenever you want to." Mirajane ran her fingers through his hair.

"You're right Natsu, it doesn't have to end hear." She gave him her most cheerful smile. "What do you have planned to do when you get back?" Natsu groaned a bit as he thought.

"I guess take Happy out fishing, I really do owe it to him." He laughed. "I just remembered something. I told him I would take him fishing after I did a quick job, but this job lasted way longer than I thought it would. He's going to be so mad at me." He only laughed more after he finish explaining, Mirajane laughed along with him. Soon though the laughter ended as Mirajane asked a question.

"Would you mind if I went fishing with you two?" Natsu flashed a toothy grin.

"Sure you can, it'll be fun!" This made the takeover mage happy.

"Ok, I'll be looking forward to it!" Natsu nodded his head as he began to stretch and yawn in her lap.

"I'm sorry Mira but I'm starting to get sleepy." The takeover mage giggled.

"It's ok Natsu, you can go to sleep." The dragon slayer smiled before entering a light nap.

* * *

The train ride was a quiet one as the two mages slept soundly, no one interrupted their sleep. Little did they know, they had just a little bit more time left in their journey. The train was running faster than usual as it was the only working one for Hargeon and Magnolia Town, it needed to be back by a certain time. Sunlight began to shine hard in the takeover mage's face, she slowly awakened. She looked down to check on Natsu and saw that he was still sleeping calmly in her lap. Looking out of the window, she could see Magnolia Town train station coming into view. She began to wake Natsu, rubbing his back caringly.

"Natsu, wake up it's almost time to get off." The fire mage yawned and stretched as he slowly became a wear of his surroundings.

"How long was I out?" Mirajane shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know actually, it's kind of hard to tell. I took a nap just after you fell asleep, and then woke up not too long ago." She replied.

"Then we should be stopping soon then." Just as Natsu finished speaking, the train began to start slowing as it was pulling into station. Mirajane stretched her arms as she and Natsu prepared to get off.

"Looks like we're finally home; I wonder how the guild is doing without me there to tend to them." Natsu waved a hand off in to the air.

"I'm sure they're just fine, worst case scenario would be Cana sneaking into the cellar getting drunk off her ass." His response made the takeover mage laugh.

"Natsu, that's not nice." Natsu grinned at her.

"So you're saying it's not a possibility?" He inquired her, she thought for a second then sighed defeated.

"Ok, maybe a small chance." She admitted to which Natsu laughed.

The train had finally come to a complete stop now as the passengers were allowed to exit safely. Once outside, Natsu and Mirajane began their walk back to the guild. While walking at a leisurely pace, Natsu looked over to her and smiled.

"I guess something's never change huh Mira." She nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, every one is still carrying the same happy smiles they had before we left." Natsu caught site of a young couple sitting at a table outside a restaurant sharing a slice of cake with each other, he chuckled and pointed a finger at them slightly as to not draw attention.

"Couples included." Mirajane looked to where he was pointing at and couldn't help but to admire their relationship.

"Awwww, that's so cuuuute! Seeing love being expressed so openly really warms the heart, wouldn't you agree Natsu?" Natsu nodded his head.

"Say Mira, you ever been in love or had a crush on some one?" Mirajane was shocked a bit by the question but none the less, she answered.

"Have I ever been in love with someone? No. Have I ever had a crush on someone? Yes, but it was awhile back on a long job I had to do solo." Natsu had a thinking face on.

"What's the difference, doesn't your heart feel the same when you're in love with someone or have a crush on them? How do you not know you weren't in love?" Mirajane gave him a knowing smile and held up her right index finger.

"Being in love and having a crush on someone are two totally different things, though they cross paths. When you have a crush on someone, it could be only for specific reasons. For example, there are tons of men that have a crush on me only because of the pictures I take for the sorcerer magazines. That feeling will fade away eventually. To them I'm nothing more than a beautiful young woman that poses provocatively in a magazine and will be replaced just as soon as there's an even more beautiful woman, see how that works?" Natsu nodded his head thoughtfully as he took in the information he was gaining.

"So if that's a crush then, what's love?" Mirajane's expression faded into a new smile, one Natsu hadn't seen her do before.

"Love is a feeling that never fades away, no matter what. Here's an example. If I was in love with someone, there wouldn't be anything they could do that would make me truly hate or despise them. No matter what, I would all ways accept them. That feeling is vice versa as well." The dragon slayer was silent for a moment.

"So if that's really what love is…. How would I ever know if I'm in love?" Mirajane placed her hands behind her back and looked up to the vast blue sky.

"That's something only you can answer. You'll know when the time comes, trust me." Was all she said in response to his question.

The two mages continued walking until they reached the guild hall. Opening the huge door, they entered.

* * *

The guild hall was just as normal as ever with every one laughing and talking with one another. A few people noticed them upon entry but just shrugged it off. The two mages walked over to the bar counter with Natsu taking a seat.

"You know, we never ate breakfast this morning." Natsu said starting up a conversation.

"You're right. You want me cook something up for us?" The fire mage only nodded his head before resting his head in his arms. Mirajane began cooking a meal for the two of them, which didn't take long at all. She sat the two plates down and walked around the counter, taking the seat on the left of Natsu. He lifted his head from his arms.

"Thanks Mira, it looks delicious!" The takeover mage tittered at his proclamation.

"I'm glad you like it Natsu." They began digging into their food while laughing and chatting about different things. They were so caught up in their various conversations that they didn't notice Erza and Gray watching them from a table afar. Gray spoke to Erza.

"When did those two get to be so talkative to each other?" Erza hunched her shoulders.

"I don't know, maybe they're like that since they did that job together." Gray just snorted and went back to his usual relaxing state.

Natsu and Mirajane finished eating as the dragon slayer stood from his seat.

"That was great Mira; I'm all fired up now!" He expressed this by thrusting a fist of fire in the air. "I think it's time for me to take Happy fishing, I'm sure he's angry at me. You still want to come with us? We might be gone the rest of the day." Mirajane smiled at him.

"Sure Natsu, I don't mind. Just give me a moment to let Elfman and Lissana know that I'll be home late." Natsu flashed his own trademark smile.

"Ok, I'll let happy know." They both walked off to do what they told each other.

* * *

Evening was soon approaching as two Fairy Tail mages and a flying blue cat moved through a forest along a dirt trail. They trekked on a few more yards until the dragon slayer held an arm back, motioning for the female mage to stop.

"What's wrong?" Natsu turned to her with a grin as did Happy.

"Were here!" Natsu and Happy began tying three incredibly long strings on to the end of three sticks and handed Mirajane one, she looked at him confused.

"I don't understand, there isn't a lake around here." The fire mage snickered as he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her just a bit further through the forest until they were in a small clearing with a ledge. Peering over it, Mirajane eyes threatened to leave there sockets as she saw that below them was a gigantic lake, possibly the biggest in all of Magnolia.

"Natsu, how did you find this? It's huge!" He burst into laughter as he sat down on the edge crisscrossed, motioning for her to do the same. Once she sat down, they casted their lines.

"I found this spot a long time ago when I used to fish with Lissana a lot. You could find all sorts of fish swimming around down there. One time I managed to pull one out that was the size of a house!" Mirajane giggled at him, then stared down at the lake with a happy expression

"I'm so glad Lissana's back home; things just weren't right with her gone." Natsu agreed with her fully.

"Yeah, we all are. It really hit the guild hard when you came and told us what happened; I know that had to be hard on you." Her facial expression began to change to a somber one as she remembered the day she broke the news to the guild, not to mention the look of disbelief on Natsu's face.

"It wasn't just hard for me; you were very close to her. I'm surprised you didn't hate my guts." A single tear fell from her eyes. Seeing this, Natsu held the fishing stick in his left hand while he used his right hand to pull her into a one arm hug. Happy saw what was happening and decided to fly down below to catch more fish himself.

"Hey, that was the past Mira. She's back now and nobody is going to take her away from us. And you thought I should hate you why? Because you tried beyond you're hardest to protect your siblings but failed? Mira there's just no way I could've ever truly hated you. Now stop crying and let's get back to fishing!" He was giving her his most sincere smile; she smiled as well and sat back up into her original position.

"Thank you for telling me that, I always thought that maybe deep down you hated me." Natsu shook his head.

"You're welcome Mira." Natsu noticed the tension in her fishing line had become strong.

"Mira, you got one! Pull it in pull it in!" Mirajane tried her hardest to pull the fish up but this was no ordinary fish. She gave it one more pull before the fish decided to pull back and she was snatched up from her spot and pulled off the edge, she screamed.

"EEEEAHHHHHH!" Natsu Leaped to his feet instantaneously then jump off the cliff head first.

"MIRAAAAA!" Natsu managed to catch up to her as he wrapped his arms around her while they fell.

"YOU GOTTA LET GO OF THE STICK MIRA!" She shook her head.

"HANG ON TO ME!" Natsu looked confused.

"WHAT!?" His question was answered as Mirajane transformed into her Satan Soul Form. Natsu, while surprised a bit, held on to her as instructed. She looked at him.

"DEEP BREATH NATSU!" She said in her echoing demonic voice. Mirajane dived in to the water and immediately she saw the huge fish that was attached to her line, she smirked. Wasting no time, she moved under the fish and single-handedly lifted the fish out of water. Tossing it to the ground, she landed beside it and allowed Natsu to let go of her as she reverted back to her normal sweet self with a smile.

"I see why I was pulled like that, this fish is huge!" Natsu wasn't paying the fish too much attention at all; he's used to catching fish this size. What he was thinking about was the way this fish was caught. It was exhilarating, having Mirajane along made fishing so much more fun.

"That was amazing Mira! I'm so fired up now!" She laughed at his response.

"You really think so?" Natsu gave a thumb up.

"You can come fishing with us any time you want too, right Happy? Happy?" Natsu looked at the blue cat and saw the look of pure shock on his face. "Ehhh, he'll recover soon." He laughed.

"I'd love that Natsu." She replied cheerfully.

"Alright, let's get cooking!" Natsu began cutting the fish up into cook able pieces while Mirajane prepared to start cooking, using the fire Natsu made for her.

* * *

Night had fell upon Magnolia Town as Mirajane and Natsu walked towards her home where her siblings awaited. The day had been a fun one for the two, though they only did one activity. Natsu offered to walk Mirajane home, telling Happy to wait for him at his home. They weren't too far from her house by now, they weren't in any sort of rush. While walking they talked about random things as usual.

"So Mira, any word on when the S class exams start? I know you're going to be one of the proctors." She began to think.

"Hmm…I can't tell you right now, master hasn't said too much about it lately." Natsu sighed.

"I see, thanks anyway Mira. You'll keep me updated?" Mirajane yawned and gave a thumb up. They had reached her door step now, they faced each other.

"I had fun today fishing with you Natsu." She was smiling brightly.

"I had fun today too Mira, I'm glad you came along." He gave his own bright smile. They stared at each other for a moment, just sharing eye contact.

'_Mira eyes are so absorbing, I don't think I've seen anything like them….'_ Natsu was lost in thought; the same went for Mirajane too.

'_Natsu really is a man now, he's become so strong'_ They stared just a while longer until Mirajane yawned again for the second time that night. Averting eyes from one another, they said they're good byes.

"I guess I better be going then, you should get inside too and go to sleep." Natsu said breaking the silence completely.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Natsu reached out to hug her which she allowed.

"Goodnight Mira." She squeezed him tighter.

"Goodnight Natsu." They separated and parted ways. Natsu walked home with a smile and feeling better than ever. Mirajane walked in to her home and closed the door quietly as she leaned against it smiling. This day couldn't have been any better.

* * *

**There's the new chapter, I hope it flowed coherently and I'm not rushing the relationship. I still want to keep the natural feel or be as close as I can. Also there maybe errors I overlooked but will fix. Thanks!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone, I apologize for the late upload. I'm very, very pleased with the feedback from the last chapter; hopefully this one is equally appreciated. Commence reading!**

* * *

Morning gave way to a bright new day at Fairy Tail. The guild hall was buzzing with random chatter from all the mages within it. Team Natsu sat idly at a table enjoying their snacks and talking amongst each other, they had all been there around the same amount of time. Erza had just finished her slice of strawberry cheesecake as she asked Natsu a question.

"Natsu, you never said how that Job you and Mirajane went on turned out." This caused him to stop drinking from his flaming mug of fire, Gray and Lucy was looking at him now. Natsu laughed slightly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh it was cake; we just had to help deliver flowers to a florist in Hargeon Town." This didn't prove to be enough for his friends.

"You two spent four days doing that?" Natsu shook his head.

"No, we got there too late on the first day, which was Friday, so we stayed the weekend while waiting for Monday to come." Gray then spoke up.

"So the two of you spent the whole time there doing nothing but waiting to start work on Monday." The fire mage nodded his head.

"Basically, it rained too much to be outside." Seeing that he managed to satisfy his friends enough, he decided to move the conversation forward as he wasn't going to give any more detail. "Hey, let's do a quick job; I'm running a bit low on money again." Gray and Lucy began to give him friendly criticism while Erza just looked at him with evaluating eyes.

'_I'm sure there's more to it than just that, those two interact with each other way more than usual.'_ She looked over to the bar mage, who just smiled and waved politely.

"Ok Natsu, go find us quick job to do." The dragon slayer got up and walked over to the request board. He spent only seconds looking until he just grabbed one down and walked over to Mirajane. She was just finishing up washing dishes as she greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hi Natsu, you need me to check off on that?" He smiled as well and laid the flyer on the counter top.

"Yeah, me and the team are going on a quick job." She dried her hands and began marking the paper while reading it.

"Hmm, it looks like you guys are going to be doing some fighting on this one." Natsu noticed she frowned and furrowed her brows, he laughed.

"What's the face for? Don't tell me you're worried." Mirajane held her facial expression as she crossed her arms.

"Natsu, you know anything could happen on a job." Seeing that she was serious, he scratched the back of his head and nodded.

"You're right Mira, sorry." Mirajane sighed and handed him the flyer.

"Just be careful, ok?" Natsu blushed as she placed a single caring hand on top of his right hand, looking him in the eyes.

"You have my word Mira." Lifting her hand off of his, she went back to doing her work. Natsu was about to walk off but stopped when a thought crossed his mind.

"Mira, would you mind if I walked you home again?" The bar mage nodded her head.

"Sure, then you can tell me all about your job." Flashing his trade mark smile, he gave her a thumb up.

"Alright!" Seeing Natsu's excitement caused Mirajane to titter.

"You should get going before it gets any later." The dragon slayer nodded his head and went back to his friends at the table.

* * *

Night was falling on the town of Magnolia, causing street traffic to thin out as people returned to their homes for the night. The guild hall was nearly empty by now with the exception of Mirajane cleaning up and Master Makarov reading through the late mail he received while sitting on the bar counter. He flipped through the envelopes boringly but then stopped when his eyes fell on a familiar one, his eyes widened as he read the contents of the letter in side. Sighing, Makarov hopped down from the counter and began heading to his office.

"Mirajane, stop by my office before you leave, it's important." Mirajane looked at the short guild master with a worried expression.

"Is something wrong Master?" He looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"I'll explain everything to you soon enough." Makarov walked into his office after those words, leaving a confused Mirajane in thought. It wasn't long after that Natsu returned from his team job; she greeted him with her trade mark smile.

"Welcome back Natsu." He smiled at her then looked around the guild hall.

"Whoa where is everybody?" She just hunched her shoulders.

"They all left early today." The fire mage chuckled as yawned.

"You ready to go home now?" She nodded but then held up a finger.

"I'm supposed to see Master Makarov before I leave, he said it's important." Natsu found himself a seat and sat down as he nodded an ok to her; she walked off to Makarov's office.

* * *

Makarov was in his office reading over the letter once more just to be sure that he read everything correctly. He was interrupted by a knock at his door.

"Please come in." He responded to the knock.

"You wanted to see me Master?" Mirajane asked as she walked in, closing the door behind her. Makarov asked her to step closer to his desk and to read the letter he handed her. After reading over the letter, her eyes widened.

"This is horrible, they have to be stopped!" Makarov grunted while agreeing with her.

"That's right, and I want you to do it." This caused Mirajane to stare shockingly at the master.

"Me? But why?" Makarov sighed before responding.

"Well I couldn't ask Erza, she will be doing another important task for me. On top of that though, you're the next best qualified for the job." Mirajane skimmed over the letter once more.

"But this is definitely S ranked and a high one at that. You want me to do this solo?" The guild master shook his head.

"No, by all means take whoever you need. Did you have any people in mind by chance?" She thought for a bit.

"I want to take Natsu with me." Her answer baffled the master.

"That's an interesting pick, you mind me asking why?" She smiled at this.

"Natsu has gotten so strong over the years and he's that much closer to achieving the S rank wizard status. I think having him along would give him more experience for these types of jobs." Makarov laughed merrily.

"Ok Mirajane I see your point. Like I said, I only wanted to know your reason behind it. Natsu is definitely not a wizard to under estimate." She laughed as well while agreeing to his statement.

"So when do we have to leave?" The master's face became serious once again.

"In a month." The takeover sighed a breath of relief.

"Good, this gives us time to prepare. Was there anything else we needed to discuss?" Receiving a simple no, Mirajane took her leave.

'_I hope I'm doing the right thing here…' _Makarov couldn't help but think to himself.

* * *

It was dark and quiet around the town as there wasn't too many people outside at this time. Walking casually though, was Natsu and Mirajane. They were almost to her home as Natsu had just finished telling her about the job he did with his team. Mirajane saw this as the perfect time to show him the letter she had gotten from the guild master.

"Here Natsu, read this." As he began to read the letter, she added. "That's what Master Makarov wanted me for. He asked me if there was anyone I wanted to bring along with me and I told him you, I hope that was ok." She finished speaking just as he handed her the letter back.

"Hell yeah it was ok, I can't WAIT to take these bastards down! When do we leave?" Mirajane giggled at his excitement.

"A month from now." Natsu looked disappointed, which he expressed.

"Awww whaaaaaaat? Why can't we go tomorrow?" The takeover mage scowled him.

"This isn't some normal job Natsu! You read the paper; this is something that has to be handled delicately." The fire mage sighed while giving an understanding look.

"Ok Mira I understand, I got a bit too excited." They had reached her door step now and faced each other.

"It's ok Natsu, I felt the same way, but I know that these things can't be rushed." They embraced each other in a hug, squeezing firmly.

"You want to do a job tomorrow Mira, just me and you?" The busty mage rested her head against him more.

"Sure, I'd love to." They remained that way for a moment until a yawned escaped the female mage's mouth, the fire mage chuckled softly.

"You should be getting inside, you need to rest." Releasing each other from their embrace, they said their goodbyes.

"You're right Natsu, I am pretty tired. Goodnight and thank you for walking me home." The dragon slayer gave a toothy grin.

"Any time Mira, goodnight." She gave a short laugh before opening the door to her home.

"I'm going to hold you to that." Natsu began walking off to his home as he chuckled.

"I would hope so." This would ended the day for the two mages

* * *

**UNKNOWN LOCATION**

"I SAID STAND, ALL OF YOU!" It was a dimly lit room.

"P-P-PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! I-I-I WANT TO BE WITH MY FAMILY!" The whimpers and plea filled cries filled the large room.

"SILENCE!" Just as the word was announced, the room fell silent. An evil menacingly dark female laugh crackled throughout the room, bouncing off the walls creating an echo effect. "Oh you'll get see your family, all of you will, once we kill them too." The poor souls within the room cried out once more, begging for her not to kill them. The woman, who had been sitting, stood from her seat and walked into a better lit spot in the room. Her face held a nasty psychotic smile on it, making some of the prisoners faint on the spot out of pure fear. She lowered her eyes as her expression changed to a more serious, darker one.

"With the blood of a thousand peasants, I will be able to use _it_ in no time" The last thing they saw was yellow eyes, baring demonic black slits. The few guards in the room looked away, not wanting to witness the gruesome scene.

* * *

Time waits for no one as a month had flown by quickly for two Fairy Tail mages. Natsu and Mirajane had spent the month going on countless jobs together. Some of them proving to be difficult while others were just as simple as completing a supply run for a local shop in town. The two mages became even closer to each other as time went on. Occasionally you could find the two out at a restaurant enjoying a meal and sharing stories with each other, but not tonight.

"They're so beautiful Natsu; I could stare at them forever." They were lying down outside looking up at the stars above them. Natsu was laying flat on his back while Mirajane lay beside him in a one arm embrace. They watched as a shooting star flew by in the sky.

"Make a wish Mira." The dragon slayer said this as he too closed his and silently made his wish. After a moment, the takeover mage spoke up.

"What did you wish for Natsu?" He laughed as he pulled her in closer to him.

"Sorry Mira but you know how it works, if I tell you, it won't come true." Mirajane pouted at hearing this.

"Then I'm not telling you mine either." Natsu made a fake growl of disappointment to which they both laughed. After calming down, he sighed.

"We leave tomorrow morning right?" The female mages face became that of a somber one.

"Yeah, I really hope this job turns out ok…" This made the fire mage rock her a little.

"It's going to be better than ok, it'll be great! When we're a team, nobody can stop us!" Mirajane laughed.

"You're right, you're right. I should be getting home and you should too, we have to be up early." Natsu grunted but released her as they got up.

"I almost forgot about that early morning part, alright let's go." They began their walk back to her home, tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

Standing at the train station was a drowsy takeover mage and a scowling dragon slayer. It was early morning as there was still a bit of fog lingering around in the air. There wasn't hardly anyone there the time.

"I guess not too many people needed to catch the first boarding this morning." Mirajane broke the silence. Natsu just groaned.

"Yeah, most people take the second or third one. Lucky for us though this is the fastest running one." The bar mage only nodded in agreement. The train pulled into station, allowing all to board. Walking into the train car, they found themselves a seat. Natsu immediately laid his head into Mirajane's lap while wrapping his arms around her and closed his eyes. She leaned her head against the closed window on her left as the train began its motion. They were on their way to Cedar Town; it was going to be a long ride.

* * *

Back at the guild hall, Erza was in Makarov's office. He had just finished explaining the details of her job.

"It sounds like I'm scouting more than anything here." Makarov nodded and gave a response.

"In a sense, yes that's what you're doing. The reason I chose you will become clear once you get there." Erza stayed silent for a moment.

"When do I leave sir?" The guild master looked serious.

"Now, there isn't a moment to lose." Erza gave a quick nod and left the office. She sprinted straight to the train station. Makarov could help but to take a heavy swig from his beer mug.

'_Be safe my children'_ He then walked out into the guild hall.

* * *

Day light was burning away quickly as it was becoming evening. A single locomotive could be seen pulling into the Cedar Town train station. It became slower and slower as it was coming to a gentle stop. Soon the passengers inside were able to leave the train, Mirajane woke Natsu.

"Come on Natsu, it's time to get off. We need to find a place to stay." Natsu groaned then finally got up from her lap as they started walking off the train and into the town. Cedar Town had an inviting feel to it. There were cool gentle ocean winds blowing through the town as people walked in and out of shops with friends, family, and lover.

"Sure is lively here." Mirajane merely nodded in agreement as she looked around with an absent minded expression. They moved further into the part of town where they would find hotels at to stay in. Finding one they both agreed on, they entered the hotel. Once inside, Mirajane got them checked in and they were off to their room. The room was spacious, providing plenty of room for the two mages to lounge around freely. Like the last time they stayed in a hotel room, there was only one bed; this didn't bother them at all. After they unpacked, they both sat at the foot of the bed.

"Feels just like last time, wouldn't you say Mira?" The busty mage lay back onto the bed as she responded.

"It really does." Lying back onto the bed as well, the pink haired mage spoke again.

"So what are we going to do about dinner? I'm starving." His stomach agreed with him as it growled of hunger.

"Well we could go out to eat or just stay here and cook, whichever one you feel is better." Thinking for a brief moment, Natsu responded.

"I think I want to eat here, it would be cheaper and your cooking never stops getting better so it's a win-win." Mirajane laughed then looked at him with a smile.

"You're too sweet sometimes." She got up from the bed and began searching for pots and pans to cook in. "If that's what you want to do for dinner, then go out and buy what you want me to cook." The spiky haired mage got up from the bed and left the room swiftly.

* * *

The dinner was done and over with relatively quick as the two mages hadn't eaten anything that morning before leaving. Having cleaned up and showered, they laid in bed with the lights off. Mirajane was wrapped in his arms firmly.

"I have to admit, I missed this way of sleeping." Natsu chuckled lightly at her statement.

"Yeah me two, I missed having you to hold onto through the night." Giggling, Mirajane wiggled around some to get more comfortable. She began thinking about the next day and frowned.

"Natsu, are you worried about tomorrow?" She could feel him shaking his head no.

"No, I'm not. I told you already, there isn't anything we can't do when we work together as a team. You must be worried." The white haired woman remained silent for a moment before speaking again.

"I was but you made me feel better, thank you. We need to be getting to bed, goodnight Natsu." The dragon slayer yawned.

"Goodnight Mira." It wasn't long after he said those words the two mages fell asleep soundly.

* * *

**Well that's the chapter, thank you for reading! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**(Updated Version) FINALLY, the new chapter is here! Thank you everyone for being patient and waiting also chapter 8's feedback was greatly appreciated :D On to the story!**

* * *

**UNKNOWN LOCATION**

An enormous boat-like ship flew through the sky with an impressive amount of speed for its size. Inside it was the equivalent of a small military platoon with armored men walking through the halls of the ship, keeping watch for any suspicious activity. In the bridge of the ship sat the same mysterious woman that slaughtered the group of helpless people just a month back. She carried an arrogant demeanor around with her, which she made look obvious as she slowly sipped dark red wine from a glass while looking bored and displeased. Once she was done drinking, she through the glass on to the floor, shattering it into pieces.

"You, clean that up." She watched with a sadistic smile as the servant she pointed to began to clean the glass up beside her. Her enjoyment was interrupted by the entry of a guard. Standing some feet back, he kneeled and delivered his message.

"Your greatness, we have nearly reached Cedar Town." The woman just smiled as she turned to sit sideways in her chair while crossing her legs.

"Good, with the people we collect in Cedar Town that should be enough….Ready the retrieval squad, I don't want any failures." The guard stood and bowed.

"Yes, right away your greatness!" She watched as the guard hastily left the room, she began to think.

'_Won't be long now...'_ She thought this as she closed her green eyes and opened them again, revealing her yellow slit ones.

* * *

Morning light beamed its way through the hotel window, shining hard onto the faces of two sleeping mages, effectively waking them. The male mage unwrap his arms from around the female mages body as he rolled to get out of bed and start getting dressed.

"Hey Mira, you think we got time get breakfast?" Strapping his sandals up, he awaited her response.

"Sure, that should be just fine. Plus I need to tell you the plan I came up with and get your opinion on it." Grabbing her clothes, the bar mage entered the restroom to change. The fire mage sat at the foot of the bed as he waited, she soon re entered the room.

"Ok, we can leave now." The two excited the room.

* * *

Finding a restaurant was easy for the two mages as the town had many different options for eateries. They opted to sit in the outdoor dining section of the restaurant to eat breakfast and enjoy the warmth of the sun. By this time of morning, the majority of shops and stands around town were open now. The streets were beginning to become busy as people moved through them, all walking at their own pace. Looking around from where she was sitting, Mirajane caught sight of a jewelry stand. Pointing at it, she caught Natsu's attention.

"Natsu, I want to go over there once were done here." Turning his head back some to see what she was pointing at, he chuckled.

"You sure we'll have time?" The takeover mage nodded her head in response, and then clasped her hands together.

"I think it's time that I explain this plan of mines." The fire mage leaned in some to listen to her intently, she continued. "Ok, so here's what I've been thinking. We can wait near the harbor until we see them make port, then sneak onto the ship. Once were on there, we have to find away to get close to the leader and take whoever it is down. That part shouldn't be too difficult either, to be honest. What do you think about it?" The dragon slayer pondered over her plan for a moment.

"Hmm….why not just destroy their ship before they have time to port? And what about my motion sickness" The bar mage was taking a sip from her beverage as she held up one index finger.

"If we did that, the fighting would be far too close to the town. As for your motion sickness, we can look around for some type of medicine" The fire mage sighed and chuckled after hearing this.

"Then in that case, your plan is just fine!" Just as Natsu had finished, the waiter came out with their food.

"Sorry for the long wait, this was a pretty sizeable order to fill." The man chuckled politely as he sat the food in front of them, Mirajane apologized."

"No, no were sorry for ordering so much." The fire mage had to leave the talking up to the bar mage as he had already began destroying the food in front of him.

"It's really ok miss, were here to serve our customers after all. So please, enjoy your breakfast." Giving a polite bow, the man left the two mages alone. The busty mage looked up to the spiky haired boy in front of her and giggled softly at his eating manners.

"My, My Natsu, were going to have to work on your table manners at some point." This only made the dragon slayer groan in disapproval as he continued to stuff his face, the bar mage only sighed as she began eating her food.

* * *

Now having finished breakfast and finding motion sickness medicine for Natsu, the two mages walked the streets of Cedar Town while staying close to the port. Currently they stood at a stand looking at different jewelry accessories, well Mirajane was at least. She marveled at the wide range of rare jewelry, varying from gems alone to encrusted dazzling works of art.

"Wow they're so pretty!" Natsu nodded his head in agreement as he looked around sniffing the air, something was off. The merchant smiled genuinely at Mirajane.

"You see something you like miss?" The bar mage allowed her eyes to roam freely over the jewelry until she gasped. Pointing at a small chain necklace with a red-orange oval, she inquired the man.

"This looks exactly like mines, but in a different color. How much is this?" Chuckling, the man whistled a sigh.

"I see you definitely do know your jewelry when you see it. This would cost around one hundred and seventy thousand jewels." Natsu coughed at the price out of shock as Mirajane just stared wide eyed, the man burst into laughter at seeing their expressions. "The reason behind that is because of its rarity." The female mage snapped out of her shock at hearing this.

"What do you mean by it being rare?" The man crossed his arms and grin.

"This gem AND the one around your own neck is almost near impossible to find anymore. They were cut with two different kinds of magic. One being dark," He pointed at Mirajane's necklace. "And one being light." He held up the red-orange necklace. "It was once said that if two people infused some of each other's magic into them, it would build a link for them, a beacon so to speak. If that happens then any time one of the owners is in trouble, the gems will pulsate and slowly become a bright white light." This information baffled the two mages, Mirajane spoke.

"I want it." Her words shocked Natsu and the merchant; the dragon slayer spoke up next.

"What?" Smiling, she repeated her words again.

"I want it. I want to buy it for you to have Natsu, a gift from me." The fire mage didn't know what to say.

"But Mira its so expens-"She interrupted him as she looked at him with a sincere look of happiness.

"Please Natsu, just accept this from me." He sighed and smiled.

"Ok Mira, I'll be happy to accept it." She turned back to the merchant to pay for the necklace, but was stopped by the man. He leaned over to whisper into her ear while handing her the necklace, Natsu raised an eye brow.

"Just take it miss, I won't charge you for it." He backed away and winked, Mirajane was speechless.

"Th-Thank you so much sir!" She turned to Natsu and placed the necklace around his neck. She tucked it under his father's scarf while it was still visible for all to see due to it having a longer chain than Mirajane's necklace. After doing this she grabbed his right hand and brought it up to her own gem.

"Let some of your magic energy flow into it, I'll do yours too." Natsu nodded and closed his eyes as did Mirajane. Their hands glowed with magic energy as the gems absorbed it. They waited patiently until the gems stopped absorbing the energy, it was done. Letting go of them, the two mages watched as they shined their own color brightly before returning to the normal appearance of simple gems. The merchant gave a chuckle.

"I take it you're satisfied with your choice?" Nodding their heads, they thanked the man and bid him goodbye as they had to get back to their main reason for being in Cedar Town.

* * *

While walking, Natsu noticed the strange scent again in the air. It was definitely more than just one person smelling this way as it was coming from the port; he looked over to the takeover mage.

"Hey Mira, do you feel like something's off? This is the second time I picked up the scent of blood coming from around the port area." She began to feel a hint of negative energy coming from the port area as well.

"Yeah you're right, something's off. Let's get over there, they may have just pulled into port and we don't want to miss them." They were now running down the streets of the town that lead to the port.

* * *

**Oshibana Town**

Erza had been in Oshibana Town since late yesterday evening. She was staying in a basic style hotel room as she wasn't there to spend time lounging around. After going over the details of the job again, she was now out in the town headed to her destination, the old unofficial guild building of Eisenwald. It didn't take her long to find the abandon building thanks to a map she had of the town. The building was deep within a pretty much dead forest, the area held a gloomy atmosphere to it.

'_Hard to believe anyone tried to have a guild all the way out here.' _Walking just a bit further along the path to the building, she saw foot prints in the soft soil and smirked. _'That's more like it, lead the way.' _She followed the foot prints all the way to the door of the building until she noticed they made a right turn and headed around to a side door, leading to under the building. _'Might as well.'_ Cautiously, she entered.

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Mirajane)**

Sneaking aboard the ship was a very easy task for Natsu and Mirajane as they were now deep within it. The ship had already lifted into the air and began its flight to an unknown location. The two mages agreed on splitting up to search around the lower part of the ship. It had bad lighting in this part of the ship as there was only one two dim lights per hallway. The female mage was cautiously checking each room she passed, but then stopped when she heard the pained cries of what sounded like a room full of tortured souls. Moving to just outside of the room she heard the screams yet again, the awful smell of blood graced her nose.

'_What's happening in there!?'_ She slowly cracked the door to the room as she peered into it, who she saw almost made her eyes pop out of her head. _'There's no way, that's her! I have to find Natsu fast, this is bad!' _In her haste to regroup with Natsu she didn't noticed the woman she was watching in the room see her leave, the woman smirked.

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Natsu)**

The spiky haired mage was in a different area of the lower part of the ship as he was following his nose. It was getting warmer the further he went down the dimly lit hallway, at the end of it he kept seeing a flash of orange light flickering. Once he had gotten to the room, he looked inside. There was a man; about six feet tall with a medium build standing in the center of the large chamber like room juggling torches of fire around catching them. If he dropped one, he would just relight it by blowing fire onto it again. Grinning, Natsu kicked open the door to the chamber like room, the man instantly turned to him.

"Who the hell are?" Now fully inside the room, the dragon slayer answered.

"Natsu Dragneel, tell me where I can find your leader." The man looked at the pink haired mage before him for a moment then laughed.

"You must be joking right? You honestly thought I was just going to tell you where my Nee-Chan was?" Cracking his knuckles, Natsu laughed as well.

"Can't blame me for asking, though there's always other ways of getting an answer from someone." Understanding what Natsu was implying, the man entered a battle ready stance as did the dragon slayer.

"Fight me!" The two began to do battle.

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Mirajane)**

Mirajane walked quickly and quietly through the lower halls of the ship as she was in search of Natsu. They both knew the job was going to be difficult, but after seeing who the leader was, it became obvious just how hard it was going to be.

'_What is she doing here; she should still be incarcerated right now. I have to find Natsu before he accidentally finds her first!' _The takeover mage turned down another hall and spotted the dragon slayer entering the room all the way at the end of it.

"Nat-" Just as she began to say his name, she was chopped on the back of the neck and fell to the ground unconscious. Standing over her with her arm still raised, was the woman with the yellow black slit eyes. She picked the bar mage up and hung her over her shoulder and began walking back through the ship halls.

"What an interesting day this is." She laughed aloud.

* * *

**Oshibana Town**

Under the abandon Eisenwald guild was a deep passage way, which was lit by flame torches on the walls. Erza walked through the passage quickly and stealthily. She slowed down once she began to hear people talking ahead of her, their voices were echoing some.

'_Must be a big room up ahead.' _She stopped and hid herself around the corner, just outside the door way and listened in on the conversation.

"Soon we'll have just enough members to rebuild Eisenwald." Then another chimed in.

"Yeah and then get payback on that Fairy Tail guild, especially that salamander guy, that's been long overdue." They all broke out into laughter until another one spoke up.

"But of course there's no way we could even hope to do that without this." Peering around the corner, Erza watched as the man held up a vile with blue liquid in it.

"What's that?" a new voice asked, the man grinned.

"I'll explain all of that tomorrow at the usual meeting spot we agreed on, go prepare." Erza eyes widened at the new information she had gained as she bolted back through the passage way and leaving the underground bunker, making sure to cover her trail.

'_They want to attack Fairy Tail and get revenge on Natsu!? And what was in that vile, this is crazy!?' _Erza thought all of this to herself as she ran through the woods, until she saw some one that stopped her completely in her tracks.

"Jellal?" He turned to face her with a surprised expression.

"Erza…" She could only stare at him with wide eyes; her job just got a lot more complicated.

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Natsu)**

Natsu was in a heated battle with the man in front of him, the two were constantly meeting at each other's fist. Leaping back from one another they paused for a moment to breathe, Natsu was grinning.

"Hey, I don't think I caught your name." The man grinned as well.

"The name's Tsushimi, that's all you're getting." Waving a hand in front of him, Natsu shrugged him off.

"I wasn't really going to listen to what your last name was any way." This angered Tsushimi as he spewed a large amount of fire from his mouth, he watched as Natsu ate all of the fire.

"You shouldn't have done that." Tsushimi burst out into a fit of laughter, confusing the dragon slayer.

"What's so funny? I'm the son of Igneel, why would I not eat the flames?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he dropped to one knee with a sick look on his face.

"You idiot, my flames are laced with poison!" He continued to laugh at the poisoned dragon slayer.

"Damn it!" Natsu was beginning to have a hard time focusing; Tsushimi noticed the pulsating red-orange gem hanging just under the dragon slayers scarf.

"Hey what's wrong with that gem of yours?" The spiky haired mage's eyes widened as he grabbed hold of the gem and looked down at it, it was indeed pulsating.

'_Shit, Mira's in trouble!' _Slowly rising to his feet, Natsu's demeanor had become deadly serious. Flames begin to slowly surface around his feet, Tsushimi raised an eye brow.

"It was fun playing games, Tsushimi….But I'm really going to need you to tell me where your sister is, I know she has something that I really need to get back.…" The dragon slayer's voice was dangerously low; Tsushimi didn't take him lightly as his on fire began to appear, clashing with Natsu's and ricocheting around the chamber violently. With both of them entering a battle stance, he responded to Natsu.

"That's just not going to happen." Natsu sighed as a viscous smile crossed his face.

"Fine, have it your way then. I hope this ship holds up." Tsushimi nodded his head while still anticipating his attack.

"Don't worry about the ship, this room and my sister room is plenty tough." Swiping his hands in a circular motion, Natsu started things off.

"**Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade**!" Tsushimi stared with wide eyes of shock as the fierce flames closed in on him.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Hopefully the next chapter will be ready sooner than this one was. As always feel free to comment :D **


	10. Chapter 10

**Back with a fresh new chapter for everyone to Read :D I've decided to go back and give each chapter an actual title. Thank you everyone for the comments on the last chapter they were definitely needed. :D**

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Mirajane)**

Mirajane was strapped to a wall within a dimly lit room aboard the ship. She had been completely stripped of her clothing. Slowly regaining consciousness, she began taking in her surroundings.

'_It's freezing cold…what happened to me…' _She thought to herself as she tried moving, but to no avail. _'Maybe if I use Satan Soul…' _Going along with her thoughts, she attempted transforming into her Satan Soul takeover form. Once again, she was unsuccessful in her effort to escape as she could feel her magic energy being restricted by the braces holding her against the wall._ 'It's no use, I'm stuck here…'_ The takeover mage began hearing footsteps coming closer as she glared at the light under the door to the room. A shadow of a person's feet stood at the doorway, they opened it. Walking into the room was the very same woman that knocked her out and brought her in there, Mirajane glared even harder at this point.

"It's been far too long since our last encounter, wouldn't you agree?" The woman closed the door and walked up to the restrained bar mage, she was now looking her in the eyes. Mirajane scoffed.

"Not long enough. How is it that you're standing here right now in front of me; you should have been executed long ago." Mirajane watched as the woman burst into laughter and waited as she calmed down enough to talk.

"That could have been a possibility, if I hadn't awakened before the rune knights appeared. You definitely was strong, I admit to under estimating you back then but..." The woman's facial expression became serious. Reaching onto the counter next to her, she grabbed a syringe and injected its contents into Mirajane's left arm. "Things are different now, Mirajane." The takeover mage yelped at being stuck by the needle, she scowled hard at the woman.

"Tanaka, what was in that syringe?" Tanaka placed her hand under the white haired mage's chin as she smiled maliciously.

"Poison, my dear." Hearing this made Mirajane feel relieved as she smirked.

"Well in that case, I should be just fine. You must have forgotten that I am immune to poison, due to my demon takeover form and all." Shaking her head, Tanaka sighed.

"Honestly, you didn't think I wouldn't keep that in mind while I was making it? Or maybe for some strange reason, you forgot that I too am a demon. I tested a sample amount of this on myself and I must say, it's pretty toxic. Truth be told, you don't have much time left." She began snickering after saying this, the restrained woman frowned.

"What do you mean by that exactly?" There was a short moment of silence before Tanaka answered her question.

"Well, with the amount of poison I've injected into you, you're going to die." Staring wide eyed Mirajane lowered her head and fell into deep thought; Tanaka just stood there and watched her with a straight face as if she was studying her reaction.

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Natsu)**

Fire danced around freely as two fire wizards did battle against one another. This had been going on for a while now as they both were wearing each other down, blow after blow. Even though they were exhausted, they maintained the steady tempo of their battle.

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS NOW!" Natsu was having a tough time fighting Tsushimi as the effects of the poison was getting stronger.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU IT'S NOT HAPPENING!" Tsushimi on the other hand was finding it difficult to keep up with Natsu's speed and power, he was becoming overwhelmed. Stopping for a moment, they glared across the room at each other.

"How's about we finish this with one last move, fare enough salamander?" Natsu only nodded in response as he began building up the fire in his chest, Tsushimi did the same.

"**FIRE DRAGON: ROAR!" **The salamander unleashed a ferocious amount of fire with great speed behind it; his opponent didn't hesitate to release their own attack.

"**POISON EMBER!**" Both attacks met in the center of the room, they began forcing their attacks.

'_I don't have time for this!' _Closing his eyes, he could feel that he had more energy within him to use as he focused. Drawing on just a bit more of his energy, he successfully pushed the wave of fire back to Tsushimi. He watched as the man was thrown back to the wall behind him and fell unconscious, Natsu cursed.

"Damn it, I over did it! Guess I'll have to rely on my nose and this gem stone." He was walking quickly out of the room now, in search for Mirajane. _'Don't worry Mira, I'm coming!'_

* * *

**Enemy Ship (Mirajane)**

Left alone inside of the cold room was Mirajane. Tanaka had left the room not too long ago as she said she had business to attend to. The takeover mage could begin to feel the effect of the poison slowly taking effect as she was feeling woozy. Her vision was becoming affected as well; she gritted her teeth and frowned.

'_I can't die here, not like this!' _Struggling harder than she did before, the bar mage tried to free herself once again only to fail. _'This is useless!' _She had become utterly frustrated by now. The sound of someone walking quickly got her attention as she looked to the door of the room and saw the person's feet stop in front of the door. Once the door opened her eyes widened in surprise.

"Natsu!" He rushed over to her and began breaking the braces bounding her to the wall. After being completely free, she leaped at Natsu hugging him while crying at the same time. The dragon slayer smiled warmly as he rubbed the back of her head gently.

"Why are you crying Mira? You had to know I would come save you no matter what right? And why are you naked anyway?" The female mage in his arms only continued to cry, completely ignoring the fact that she was indeed nude in his arms. She began calming down as she told him why she was upset.

"I've been poisoned Natsu, I'm going to die." Swallowing hard, Natsu paused as his blood began to run cold. He pulled her away from him just enough to look her in the eyes.

"W-What?" She looked at him as the tears still fell from her eyes and answered.

"I was trying to find you, to tell you that there was a woman on this ship that's extremely dangerous to cross paths with. I didn't want you to accidentally find her without me there to help. I fought her some years back when me and Erza did a job together and defeated her, only to find out now that she managed to escape capture." Natsu eyes widened even more now in realization.

"Tanaka, the woman you're talking about is Tanaka right?" The female mage looked surprised at hearing him say her name.

"How do you know about her?" The dragon slayer explained that Erza told him about the job from back then.

"To make things worse, she has a younger brother on here as well." Mirajane looked down as she thought about the situation.

"We need to leave, now. It's too dangerous the way things are at the moment." She backed away from him as she looked around for her dress. Blushing at seeing Mirajane completely nude in better light; made Natsu face the opposite direction. After she found her clothing she walked over to the door, motioning for Natsu to follow.

* * *

**Oshibana Town (forest)**

Two familiar people locked eyes with one another if trying to figure out what the other was thinking. Neither one of them had moved an inch since their encounter; the scarlet haired woman spoke up.

"Jellal…What are you doing here?" The man in question sighed.

"I could ask the same, but I know we wouldn't make any progress in doing so." To the right of them was a small stream with many large rocks to sit on, so he did and asked her to have a seat next to him. She was hesitant at first, but decided to sit down anyway. He reached into his jacket and pulled out what looked to be a log book and handed it over to Erza, she began skimming through the pages as he spoke again.

"I've been keeping a close watch on this organization or group for a while now. I began to notice their size in numbers was beginning to grow rapidly over a short time. It started out with it being just ten people or so then it grew to fifty and now it's at one-hundred members. Once they reached this size I noticed them bringing in different items as if they were making something, I just haven't figured out what and I don't know their motives either." By the time he was done talking, Erza had read and verified everything he was saying to be true. Handing him his log book back, she responded.

"I see, well in that case it looks like we're useful to each other in this situation. I happen to have seen what it was they were making but I don't know what it does. The leader of the group said they would find out tomorrow at the_ usual meeting spot_, I don't have a clue where that could be and I need to know what it does. Their motive or at least their main motive is to destroy Fairy Tail and get revenge on Natsu in the process. I heard the leader say though that it wouldn't be possible to do without whatever was in that vile he was holding." Jellal sat quiet and motionless as he pondered over the new information he learned, he then stood and motioned for Erza to do so as well.

"Ok then follow me, I'll show you where they been meeting at." Erza nodded and followed him.

* * *

**Enemy Ship**

Two Fairy Tail mages ran through the dim halls of the ship, making their way back to where they came in at. Turning another corner, they ran into _her_ again. The three of them paused for a moment before Natsu spoke up.

"You're in the way." Tanaka stared at Natsu then smirked.

"You're the one that defeated my younger brother, aren't you." She began walking up to the dragon slayer, who entered a battle ready stance with flaming fist. Mirajane transformed into her Satan Soul form and moved in between them, Tanaka stopped walking and gritted her teeth.

"What are you doing? Move out of the way." The white haired demon mage shook her head with cold eyes burning a hole into the demon in front of her, suddenly though she faltered and kneeled on to one knee as she gained a cold sweat. Natsu rushed to her side placing his hand just below her wings, asking her how she was feeling. She whispered something into his ear as Tanaka noticed him nod and stood up just as Mirajane did. Natsu helped hold the takeover mage up with his right arm as she prepared an attack. Tanaka only sighed as she shook her head.

"What a pitiful sight this is to watch. Here it is, an alleged demon struggling to stand after receiving a dose poison and now slowly withering away to nothing, how pathetic." The takeover mage paid no mind to what the woman was saying about her as she held out both of her hands openly. Dark energy began to form in a circle and steadily grew larger until it over shadowed her own hands.

"**DEMON BLAST!**" Tanaka quickly dashed down the open hall way next to her as the high powered dark beam passed by, what happened next angered her. While behind the beam was a fleeing Mirajane and Natsu, as the beam created an opening at the very end of the hall. Tanaka ran after them, but was too late as they had already leaped out of the air born ship and into the cloudy sun lit sky.

"Damn they got away; it's too bad you're still going to die though, demon of Fairy Tail." Tanaka turned and walked away, she was feeling victorious in the end.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

They were exceedingly high in the air as they fell; they had long since reached terminal velocity. The two mages held onto each other in a tight embrace. Air density had became thicker due to their falling speed and it threatened to separate them if enough got between them, but that wouldn't be happening. After free falling for a few more moment an island came into view as Mirajane, still in her Satan Soul form, opened her wings in an attempt to slow there descent and glide them to the ground safely. This proved to be a strinusles task for her as she was getting weaker from the poison. Now just a few feet high the sand on the island, Mirajane's Satan Soul form gave out and they tumbled onto the sand. Natsu immediately checked on the takeover mage beside him. She was breathing heavy and sweating a profusely. He felt rain drops begin to fall from the sky and soon turned into a down pour. Cursing, he picked Mirajane up from the ground and carried her on his back into the deep thick green forest. While trekking along, he tried keeping her awake but was finding it difficult himself as the poison within his own body got even worse. They were both looking sickly and withering.

"Hey…Mira…you got to…stay awake, please." The pink haired mage waited nervously for her to respond.

"Natsu…I've been thinking…when I die-" The fire mage cut her off immediately.

"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT, IM NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE ON ME!" The bar mage shook her head as tears began to fall from her eyes, though masked by the heavy rain.

"Natsu…please…I don't want to die either…but there's just no way…out of this." Natsu began to shed tears as well, he knew she was right. They were in an unknown location, it was storming, the both of them were poisoned, and things were only going from bad to worse by every passing moment. He thought about all of this as they came upon an unnaturally gigantic tree in what appeared to be the center of the forest; he sat Mirajane down as she lay back against the tree. Taking a seat next to her, he held her in his arms for what he feared would be the last time. The fire mage began to start waning himself as the poison he consumed entered its final stage of intoxication, Mirajane noticed this.

"What's wrong…Natsu?" Chuckling lightly he, sighed.

"I forgot that…I didn't tell you…earlier…I'm poisoned Mira. Tanaka's brother…was a fire wizard…as well but…his flames were…laced with poison…and I ate some." The woman in his arms could only shake her head.

"Idiot." The pink haired mage closed his eyes while smiling; there was a moment of silence between them until Natsu spoke up.

"Mira…remember that night…when we were star gazing…and you wanted to know my wish? I'll tell you…if you're still interested." Mirajane closed her eyes and leaned into him, smiling as well.

"Sure Natsu…I'd love to know…and I'll tell you mine…after you're done." Natsu sighed and began talking.

"That night… we were laying down outside…looking at all of the stars…I was holding you in a one arm hug…then a shooting star flew by…and we made our wish…" he squeezed her tighter at this point. "I wished for there to be more moments like that one… I wished that I could hold you… in my arms for ever and never let you go…I wished to be able to spend more nights together with you…I wished I could figure out what this burning…sensation was in my chest every time you were near me… that was my wish Mira." Hearing Natsu's words were almost too much for her to bear. She began to speak, but shakily.

"Natsu...If only you would have told me sooner… then I could have told you mine…" Natsu stopped smiling as he listened to her. "My wish was…to be held by you the way you had been doing…I never wanted to leave your arms…I wanted to spend many more nights together with you holding me…you were always so warm…even now you are…that was my wish Natsu." The dragon slayer couldn't believe his ears. The burning sensation in his chest became extremely strong now.

"…Mira…remember when we returned…to magnolia after our first job together?" He looked down to see her nod her head.

"Yea…why do you ask?" Using as much strength as she could, she looked up to him.

"You told me the difference…between loving someone…and having a crush on them…I remember you said…only I would know… when I'm in love with someone…" He swallowed hard. "I think I understand what you meant by that." Mirajane's eyes opened as wide as she could, which wasn't too far passed the look of half lidded sleepy eyes.

"What are you saying Natsu?" He looked her in the eyes and responded.

"Mira…I love you." The female mage brought her hands up weakly to the lower part of her face and cupped them together, covering her mouth in surprise. Tears fell even more from her already drenched eyes, she was happy.

"Natsu…I." She started as she grabbed onto him as tight as she could. "I love you so much it hurts…it's not fare…why does it have to…end like this?" Their vision was beginning to fade as they looked at each other once again.

"If only I had of told you sooner…we could have lived even more happily...but now…" Mirajane smiled as warmly as she could.

"I'll never forget you…Natsu Dragneel." His last name came out choppy and squeaky; she could feel her heart rate slowing now as time drew near. Natsu broke completely.

"And I'll never forget you…Mirajane Strauss." He placed his forehead on hers as they slowly tilted their heads opposite of each other and locked lips. This moment seemed to last forever. For only a second it felt as if everything was going to be alright, but that just wouldn't be the case now. The two separated and looked into each other's eyes for the last time. They gave each other their trade mark smile as they leaned back against the tree, holding hands.

"Thank you Natsu…for everything… I couldn't imagine loving anyone else this way." Natsu squeezed her hand tighter before speaking.

"You're welcome Mira…and I couldn't imagine loving anyone else this way either." It had become night fall as the rain continued to come. Mirajane leaned her head on Natsu's shoulder.

"Goodnight, Natsu." He laid his head against the top of hers.

"Goodnight, Mira." There was silence between the both of them as the rain poured on them. Thunder rumble violently across the vast dark sky, it was almost as if the heavens themselves were upset and moved by the display of love and affection. The tree the two mages sat under began to absorb them, slowly but steadily into its trunk until they were completely inside.

* * *

**There's not much more for me to say other than what was already said at the top. Hopefully the next chapter comes swiftly and if there's any errors they will be fixed asap, thanks in advance for the patience. :D**


	11. The Entity and The Future

**Here's the newest chapter for everyone to read, I managed to actually release one within the weekend this time! I have to admit that I was surprised at how much you all liked chapter 10 as I was sure it wouldn't sit well with everyone. Well, I see I was wrong about that! I'm glad that chapter 10 met you all's expectation! :D**

* * *

**Void (Natsu)**

Drifting… slowly but steadily he was drifting along what felt like a gentle river, which strangely didn't make him feel sick. He couldn't remember how he had gotten there as his thoughts were still trying to recollect themselves. There was absolutely no sound there at all; this only raised his level of confusion higher. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around, it was all white.

'_What is this…' _The pink haired man wondered to himself as he tried to remember what happened. He stared up into the vast nothingness above, nothing made any sense. The dragon slayer wasn't sure how long he had been there, but decided to try to stand up and walk around. Every step he took sounded as if he was walking on top of water, it was weird to him. He stopped after taking a few more steps and looked at his hand, he began to concentrate. His hands became a blaze as fire engulfed it as it usually would.

'_So I can still use my magic power…' _He didn't know why but, somehow this put him at ease. The fire mage cringed suddenly as his head began to throb painfully. _'GAH! What the hell!?' _He was starting to remember bits and pieces of the last event leading up to this. Fragmented memories of rescuing a nude Mirajane came into mind, followed by sitting under a tree holding hands with the takeover mage. It was all there, but he just couldn't fill in the missing pieces.

'_What happened…? Why was Mirajane naked, and why were we holding hands under a tree?' _The troubled dragon slayer began to hear the sound of soft footsteps behind him and the sound of a woman giggling, he turned around as his eyes widened from shock. Standing not too far away from him was Mirajane. She was wearing her usual outfit as she stood there smiling and giggling at the fire mage; he started walking closer to her. Just as he was almost to her, she turned and started running away from him while now laughing playfully.

"Mira, wait! Where are you going!? Mira!" He was now running after her at full speed and yet, she only seemed to get farther and farther away. _'What the hell is going on!? Why can't I catch up to her!?'_ After running a little bit farther, she stopped as a black door appeared in front of her. Grabbing the handle, she looked back at Natsu with a smile before opening it and running through it. While running, Natsu began to slowly fall through what was believed to be a floor or ground.

'_Shit, I'm falling through the ground!?'_ He tried to fight his way out of the engulfing floor but was unsuccessful in his efforts as he was swallowed completely.

* * *

**Void (Mirajane)**

Falling… It never seemed to end for her. From the very moment she opened her eyes, she had been falling into nothingness. It was pitch black and there was no sound. She closed her eyes as she began to think about how she had gotten there. She remembered everything leading up to this very moment, which only saddened her.

'…_Does this mean I'm going to hell…Is that why I've only been falling in darkness for so long? I wonder where Natsu is…Will I ever see him again…probably not…' _She could still feel her magic energy within herself but, what would be the point of using it she wondered. The whole ordeal was confusing to her. She continued to fall until she was stopped by landing on a solid floor like surface with what sounded like a small splash in a stream. The landing strangely didn't hurt her at all; to her it was as if she just, stopped falling. She stood up and began to walk around in the darkness, almost as if she was searching for something. After walking for a while she stopped and placed her face into both of her hands as she began to cry silently.

'…_What did I do to deserve this?'_ just as she said this, a trail of fire slowly became visible in front of her. She moved her hands away from her eyes as she watched it go farther away from her. Standing even further away from her at the other end of the trail of flames was Natsu, his fists were blazing and he was smiling at her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Natsu!?" He began to start running away and the trail began to start fading. Wasting no time at all, Mirajane followed behind him quickly. As she ran he only managed to get away from her even faster, she began to panic at the thought of losing him.

"Natsu please, slow down! Wait for me!" He continued to run from her for just awhile longer until a white door appeared in front of him. Grabbing the knob, he opened it and walked through without looking back. Mirajane ran even faster at this point as she reached the door and ran through. On the other side of it was a cliff overlooking a deep blue ocean that stretched for miles and miles, long and wide. There was a gentle constant wind; it was filled with the salty smell of the ocean. Mirajane walked up to the very peak of the cliff and sat down onto the green grass while letting her feet hang off the edge, she was sad once again.

'_I lost him…' _The takeover mage laid back and looked up to the bright blue sky above her as she thought about just how close she was to catching the fire mage.

'_Where are you...Natsu…' _The gentle sound of the ocean water combined with the wind managed to lull her to sleep.

* * *

**Void**

Natsu had been walking through a forest for quiet sometime now. He wasn't sure on how he had gotten there; all he remembered was falling through a floor while chasing after Mirajane. The forest was becoming steeper and steeper until it was at the point where he felt as though he was climbing a hill, he was right. Looking farther ahead, he could see the bright shine of day light and he could pick up the scent of sea salt. Picking up his pace, he marched on until he got to the end and came out onto the beginning of a cliff. As he pressed onward he saw a person lying down at the end of it, it was a woman.

'_Who is that?'_ The woman's scent began to enter his nose; his adrenaline began to flow incredibly strong. He broke out into a full sprint up the cliff.

'_Could it be!?' _This wasn't like before, this woman had an actual scent to her. Now at the top of the cliff he looked at the woman, she was sleeping.

"Mira?" He called her name, effectively waking her. She gasped.

"Natsu? Is it really you this time?" Standing up, the bar mage ran to hug the fire mage. The two embraced each other as tight as they could, it was long awaited. Natsu breathed in her scent strongly and sighed while smiling.

"It's really me Mira." He heard her start to sniffle as he rubbed the back of her head soothingly.

"Natsu…Are we-" Knowing what she was going to ask, he cut her off.

"Dead? I don't know. I really can't remember everything that happened or why were even here. All I remember was saving you and holding hands with you under a tree in the rain." They let go of each other as Mirajane looked at him for a bit then kissed him on the lips. The kiss didn't last too long as she did it more or less to get a specific reaction from him, she got what she was looking for. Natsu's head began to hurt again just like before, though this time was different. The missing pieces to his memory were coming back to him now vividly clear, he remembered everything.

"I remember now, we were dying because of us being poisoned by Tanaka and her brother Tsushimi. In that case…I guess we are dead." The wind seemed to have blown stronger after he said this.

"_**You are not dead, for I have saved your lives."**_ Natsu and Mirajane instantly looked around, searching for the location of the voice. Coming from the wood was an extremely pale woman with beautifully long ivory green hair wearing a white kimono.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked the woman while pulling Mirajane close to him, the mysterious woman smiled.

"_**I am the tree the two of you sat under as you spent your final moment together. After witnessing the display of love and affection shown by you two, I couldn't let it end there. Your love is pure; I've seen something like that only one other time, but that was long ago. I absorbed you into me so that I could cleanse you of the poison within your bodies. To be honest, it was almost too late for you two. You were only a heartbeat away from death."**_ Hearing this made the two mages mouth's become agape. The woman moved up to them and placed a hand onto both of their heads and closed her eyes.

"_**Now I will show you…" **_She began as her facial expression hardened. _**"A glimpse into your future!"**_ Both mages closed their eyes as they felt themselves being pulled into another dimension.

* * *

**The Future (Vision)**

There was a rush of light as all kinds of different images flew by the two mages who stood still watching it all. The woman from before began to talk once again.

"_**Here, you will see just what's in store for you in the future." **_A random slide stopped as it showed a newborn baby being held by its mother, they could only see her arms with the child within them. The vision repositioned its self to show some of the other faces in the room. There was Erza, Master Makarov, Lisanna, Elfman, Wendy, Lucy, Grey, and many other members from within the guild. Some of them had somber smiles while others were crying silently as they looked at the mother and her child. This confused the two mages as Mirajane asked a question.

"Why does everyone look so sad and crying? Shouldn't they be happy?" The woman only shook her head.

"_**The mother of that child has suffered a great lost." **_This was all she said as she moved onto another random slide. This showed an over view of everyone in the guild hall all sitting quiet as some of them cried, it was as if they were mourning the loss of some one. Natsu could see his team sitting at their usual table, but things were different. Erza had her head down in her arms on the table with a full slice of untouched strawberry cheesecake in front of her. Grey had a hurt angry expression all over his face as he just stared hard at the table. Lucy rested her head in her hands as she cried silently.

The entity knew that the questions were coming real soon which is why she moved on to the last randomly picked slide. There was a woman standing in front of a grave with a black umbrella as heavy rain fell from the sky above. She stood there motionless as she only watched the grave in silence. The vision didn't last long as it had already ended. The two mages just stood silently as they tried to figure out what it was that they just saw. The entity spoke to them again.

"_**It's quite a lot of left out information dealing with these events I know, but it's for the protection of the future. I'm sorry that I can't show you anymore than I already have." **_Natsu asked a question as he tried to understand it all.

"So, what do we do with all of this? What was the reason behind showing us this?" The woman in question closed her eyes and reopened them as she looked him in his.

"_**Preparation." **_That was all she said in response to his question. Her eyes widened slightly as if she was just notified of something important. _**"It's time for you to return to your dimension, your bodies are done healing. Is there a specific place you would like to return to?"**_The dragon slayer spoke up once again.

"Cedar Town, but how are you going to get us there?" Giving Natsu a knowing smirk, the woman casted her magic onto them.

"_**Portal magic. By bending the dimension time and space exactly the way I want, I can open a small rip in space big enough for you two to pass through safely." **_Seeing the confusion on the dragon slayer's face she sighed and looked to Mirajane who had been listening the whole time and staying quite.

"_**You understand, right?" **_The takeover mage nodded her head in response as the portal or rip opened, revealing Cedar Town on the other side.

"So we can just walk through there and were back in Cedar Town? Ok Natsu, are you ready?" He reached his hand out to grab hold of hers.

"Yeah, I'm ready to head back now." The entity smiled as she watched the couple leave the realm and enter Cedar Town.

* * *

**Oshibana Town (Forest)**

Erza spent several hours walking through a forest while being led by Jellal. They were headed to where the secrete organization usually meet up, outside of their underground base. The scarlet haired woman was beginning to get annoyed.

"Just how far is this spot?" The blue haired man leading the two rubbed his forehead.

"Not much farther now, was getting real close." They continued to march on until they entered a clearing. It was even ground and it had short green grass. The area itself had a large radius to it, almost forming a perfect circle. Jellal faced Erza as he started talking.

"I followed them out here more than once, but every time I did the weather conditions made it hard for me to understand what was being said. The wind would begin to blow strongly every time they started the meeting. I can say though, from what I have seen, they use this area for combat practice. They're skills in hand to hand combat is flawed considerably, but their skills in magic almost makes up for it." Erza thought over what she was just told. _'If what he says is true…then that liquid…' _She looked Jellal in the eyes seriously.

"I may have just figured out what that liquid formula does, if I'm correct then I need to come up with a plan for what I'm going to do." Jellal's left eyebrow rose up slightly as he was curious about what she wanted to do.

"And what might you have planned exactly?" Erza withdrew a sword from its sheath as she marked a tree near her, and then sheathed it.

"I will return his tomorrow and do either one or two things. I'll defeat them there and then or ill take vial from them and bring it back to Fairy Tail to be analyzed. I think fighting them would cause an issue with the magic council, seeing as how they technically haven't done anything wrong yet. Stealing the vile would help us understand what were really dealing with." Jellal folded his arms before challenging her plan.

"And how are we going to get that close to them anyway?" Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Who said I was including you in my plan anyway? If anything I should report you for escaping custody." The blue haired man laughed out loud at this.

"That's funny. You threaten to have me institutionalized, yet you need me here. What are you going to do if your cover is blown?" The red haired woman frowned angrily at his words and retorted.

"Excuse me? What do you mean 'what are you going to do if your cover is blown?' I'm Erza Scarlet; I'll do as I must!" Jellal held made a calm serious face.

"So you're going to fight them then? After you just said that it would be a bad idea to fight them as they haven't done anything wrong technically. It might cause your guild a lot of problem if it looks like you're attacking people off of an assumption." The scarlet mage frowned as she knew this was true. Staying quiet for another moment, she spoke.

"Fine that maybe true but explain to me how having you along would help. Plus, what's the real reason behind you being here in the first place, what does this have to do with you?" The man in question placed a hand on his forehead as he rubbed it.

"If you get caught and NEED to fight to escape, I can do that for you instead because it fits my background. They would look at it as me just causing more trouble. Why am I here you ask? I made it my goal to liberate this land of all dark guilds. There's nothing I can do that'll erase the horrible things I've done in the past Erza, nothing, but I can help change the future. With that said, do you see my point now?" A gust of wind blew by them as Titania sighed.

"…Ok, I could use your help on this." She looked around as early night was beginning to set in. "In the mean time, I'm headed back to my hotel room in the city; I guess I'll see you later then." The blue haired man spoke up, biding her goodbye.

"Alright ill see later, I'm just going to set up camp here for the night." Hearing this, Erza stopped and faced him once again.

"You don't have a room anywhere?" Jellal chuckled slightly as he responded.

"How would I get a room with no money?" Shaking her head, Erza sighed.

"It's not safe to stay out here over night. You could come back to my room, if you want." A mild expression of surprise graced the blue haired man's face.

"You want me to stay in your hotel room with you?" The scarlet haired woman frowned.

"I didn't say that! I only OFFERED it as an alternative is all, take it or leave it." This made Jellal laugh.

"Ok, I'll take you up on your offer." Erza only looked at him once before beginning her walk back.

"Well come on its only getting later." The two started their long walk back to town.

* * *

**Cedar Town**

It was early night as the people of Cedar Town all were out enjoying themselves. The streets were noisy as there was a small festival. Everyone in Cedar Town was there, well almost everyone. Two mages, one a man with spiky pink hair and the other a woman with beautifully long white hair lay in bed together as they rested their minds and bodies after having been through so much just a day ago. They had managed to narrowly escape death after having being poisoned by their enemy. Then to add more things to their already exhaust minds, they got a glimpse into their future. The visions presented to them left them confused beyond reason as they tried to figure things out.

"It's weird." The dragon slayer said all of a sudden, catching the bar mage attention. The room was pitch black as he held her in his strong arms.

"What's weird Natsu?" He groaned as he began to explain.

"Out of the three visions we saw, I didn't see either of us in there once." The takeover mage's eyes widened as she realized it was true.

"I didn't think about that, I wonder why?" Natsu yawned as he tried to think of a reason. Failing, he sighed.

"I can't come up with anything to be honest. In any case, I think we should get to sleep, I know you must be just as tired as I am after everything that's happened." Mirajane nudged Natsu gently so that he would unwrap his arms from around her.

"Yeah, I don't feel like trying to figure anything else out at the moment." She rolled over just enough to share a kiss with Natsu, and then laid back into her original position with him wrapping his arms around her.

"Goodnight, Natsu." The woman slowly began drifting off to sleep, the dragon slayer chuckled.

"Goodnight, Mira." Just before Natsu fell completely asleep, a single thought crossed his mind.

'_How did I ever get this lucky…' _After thinking this, he too had fallen asleep for the night.

* * *

**That sums things up for this chapter pretty much. I'll fix any errors I missed while checking if there are any, feel free to leave a feedback on the chapter :D**


	12. Dangerous Findings and Confirmation

**Here's the new chapter everyone! I want to acknowledge the comments I received on the last chapter and this story as a whole so far, thank you. And now, I present to you chapter 12! :D**

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**Oshibana Town (Forest)**

A group of brown cloaked people moved swiftly threw a forest as they were on their way to a meeting. Unknown to the group though, they were being tailed by to wizards hidden within the shadows. Two of the men at the ended of the group spoke out all of a sudden.

"Hey you guys go on a head, were stopping for a sec." The rest of them just nodded their heads as the two cloaked men fell back slowly from the group until they stopped completely, they walked off to the side and began urinating on a nearby tree. Seeing this as an opportunity to strike, the blue spiked haired mage walked up casually to the two unsuspecting men with a raised arm.

"Something's are just too easy." Before the two men could react in time, they had been knocked out. The scarlet haired female mage walked out from behind a tree while shaking her head.

"Talk about getting caught with your pants down, that's pathetic honestly." Jellal smirked at Erza's comment as he had taken the cloaks off of the men and tossed her one to put on. She caught the cloak and looked at it, a little of the very bottom was wet. Erza's face gained a scowl as she looked at Jellal who was already wearing his and was in the process of putting his hood on, he stopped and gained a confused look.

"What's wrong Erza?" She held it up and pointed at the small wet area at the bottom of the cloak.

"I'm not wearing this!" Seeing the spot that the female mage was talking about, he shrugged his shoulders.

"What am I supposed to do about that?" This nearly sent Titania over the top; she gave him a death glare.

"Switch with me, now." Jellal sighed as he began to take off the cloak and tossed it to her while catching the one she had.

"Fine fine, if it bothers you that much." They dressed themselves in the cloaks by simply pulling it over their own clothing; the scarlet haired woman looked at Jellal.

"Thank you." Jellal smirked at this as he began walking.

"You're welcome. Now come on, we need to catch up to the group before they get suspicious." Nodding her head in agreement, Erza caught up to Jellal as they began running.

* * *

The run to catching up with the group didn't take Jellal and Erza long as they were now with the group and was entering the same clearing that the two mages visited just yesterday. They all walked out into the center of the clearing and awaited further instruction. Dressed in a gray cloak was the leader of them all. He stood in front of everyone with the same vial of blue liquid Erza had seen before; Jellal looked over to her and whispered.

"Is that it?" She nodded her head in response and remained silent. The group leader started to speak.

"My people, I am very pleased to present to you, in its complete form, element-E." Erza and Jellal watched all around them as the group members cheered and hooted at the unveiling of the name, they looked at each other with confused faces as the leader spoke up again.

"Alright now quiet down, I'm about to give you all a demonstration of its effects." He opened his left hand, exposing his palm to the trees on his left. "Now as you all know, I am a wind magic user. Here's my usual wind attack, **Spiraling Wind Palm!**" A blast of spiraling wind left the man's hand as it destroyed what looked to be around fifteen to twenty trees. Once he was done, he switched hands and took just a simple sip from the vial. "And now, for the real demonstration." Instead of just blasting wind from his hand this time, he charged it up. Once he was done, he released it. A massive wave of the same spiraling wind attack left his hand and obliterated at least a quarter mile of forest, Jellal and Erza stared completely wide eyed as the group began to cheer even harder than before. Jellal looked at her once again as he whispered.

"We need to get that vial from him, now." He grabbed hold of the scarlet woman's right hand and placed his left hand into her palm, she blushed.

"W-what do you think you're doing?!" She yelled in a hushed whisper voice. The blue haired man's hand glowed a gold colored light. Lifting his hand off of hers, there was a small but noticeable black magic circle on the palm of her right hand.

"I'm going to distract them while you grab the vial, start heading back to Fairy Tail as soon as you get it. That seal is something like a summoning seal. If you ever need to, you can use it to get a hold of me." Erza frowned as she looked at her hand then back to Jellal.

"I'm only going along with this so that I don't draw any more unwanted attention to Fairy Tail. As for the seal thing, thanks, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." The cheering of the crowd had yet to quiet down as Jellal held up three fingers to witch Erza nodded, he began the countdown. Once he reached zero, he created what appeared to be something like a smoke screen that covered nearly the entire clearing. Erza rushed through the group and stood behind the leader, still wearing her hood.

"I'll be taking that." Was all she said as she slipped the vial out of his left hand and knocked him out. She looked back at Jellal as he had began fighting the group members, it was hard for them to see but they were able to nod heads at each other before the scarlet woman took her leave. She could still here the sound of small scale explosions taking place as she ran through the forest.

'_I need to get to the train station and leave quickly!' _She increased her running speed.

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**Cedar Town**

A young couple stood in line as they waited to be able to board the train. There weren't too many people there but it was more than when they were coming to Cedar Town. The young woman had her left arm in a lock by the young male's right arm as she leaned into him. Some of the on lookers smiled at seeing the heartwarming display of affection. They knew they were being watched by some but it didn't bother them. Beckoning to everyone waiting, was the conductor of the train himself as he welcomed everyone aboard, the couple found a, for the most part, secluded section of the train where they could rest on their ride home together. Now sitting in their usual traveling position, the male spoke as the train began moving.

"Hey Mira, I've been wondering about something." The woman who lap he rested his head in looked down at him and cocked her head to the side.

"What's bothering you Natsu?" He shifted his eyes away from her as he explained.

"What do you think the guild is going to say about this?" Mirajane raised an eye brow.

"About the job?" Natsu shook his head.

"No, about us." The bar mage thought over what was just asked as it was indeed a good question.

"Hmm… I can't really see anything bad that could happen besides them being shocked." Natsu nodded in agreement until another thought came into mind.

"What about Lisanna?" This made the woman think even longer than she did about the guild's reaction.

"…I'll find out how she _would _feel about us being a couple before just telling her we are." She watched as the dragon slayer nodded his head, a thought popped into her head this time. "What about Lucy?" Natsu looked as if he was concentrating on the question.

"It isn't anything like that between me and Lucy. Were just close friends and teammates." The takeover mage smiled at hearing this.

"Ok, I was just wondering." The pink haired mage yawned in her lap as he was starting to drift off to sleep.

"Wake me up when we get there ok Mira?" Mirajane yawned and leaned her head against the window as she replied.

"Don't worry, I will." They were asleep now as the train moved very quickly along the tracks, it was slowly approaching night.

* * *

**Magnolia Town (Natsu and Mirajane)**

The two Fairy Tail mages were on their way to the guild as it was early night now and the streets were beginning to thin out some. They weren't holding hands with each other or walking too close. It was an agreement made by the both of them as they wanted to wait until Mirajane got an answer from Lisanna. Their walk wasn't too long as they had reached the guild relatively quick due to taking a quicker route. They walked inside and noticed that it was pretty much empty, save for Master Makarov sitting on the bar counter drinking from a beer mug.

"Were back Master." Mirajane spoke for the two of them as they watched Makarov nearly fell from the counter at seeing them.

"Natsu and Mirajane, you're back! Was the job a success?" He noticed they averted their eyes from him after he asked this. "Did something happen?" Mirajane began to explain only some of the story.

"We failed Master, they got away…" Makarov stared wide eyed at the two mages before him as he tried to figure out what happened.

"What happened Mirajane?" She looked down at the ground disappointedly and explained yet again.

"The leader of that ship, I fought her before. I defeated her long ago and yet, just by luck, she managed to escape being captured and institutionalized. I'm sorry master, back then I should have-" Natsu really wanted to comfort the now nearly weeping Mirajane, he continued the explanation for her.

"Long story short gramps, we separated from each other and got into some serious trouble and were forced to escape." Makarov closed his eyes as he thought over the information. He knew that there was way more to it but decided that he would wait until later to here the full details, he looked at Mirajane.

"Don't cry Mirajane, you made the decision you thought was best, that's what anyone would do. All we can do is take what happened into consideration, and learn from it. Now, please understand that I will need a full detailed explanation on what happened so we can be better prepared next time. You two are free to leave." They nodded their heads and exited the guild. They were now headed to Mirajane's home; Natsu pulled Mirajane into him as they walked to comfort her.

"I'm sorry Mira, I know what we agreed on but I'm not standing idly by and just watching you get upset like that." She shook her head at this.

"It's ok Natsu, thank you, I needed this." There was nothing but the sound of their footsteps as they continued on to her home.

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**Magnolia Town (Erza)**

She was running quickly threw the nearly empty streets of Magnolia while still wearing the cloak from Oshibana Town. Turning down another street, she was nearly to the guild. Running just a bit faster she was faced with the guild doors. She opened the huge doors and ran through only to stop in front of Makarov who was still sitting on the bar counter, he looked up and frowned.

"What business do you have with Fairy Tail?" This response confused Erza until it dawned on her that she was still wearing the cloak and was hooded. She removed the full bodied cloak and apologized.

"My apologies master." Seeing that it was just a fully covered Erza, Makarov laughed a bit.

"Oh it was just you Erza. Please, tell me how the job was, did you get any important information?" Titania nodded as she pulled out the vial of element-E, the guild master's eyes open widely. The scarlet haired mage handed over the vial as she began to give details.

"Inside of that vial is some sort of magic super charger. I managed to sneak into their base and over heard them talking about this vial, destroying Fairy Tail, and wanting revenge on Natsu. The leader said that none of that would be possible if it wasn't for element-E. I watched a demonstration of its effect and…it was astounding, he was able to clear out a quarter mile of forest area just after showing that he couldn't before." Makarov couldn't believe his ears.

"Things are getting more and more complicated by the day I swear. This is a great find Erza, you've done well you're free to go home." She studied her master's body language and could see the stress revealing it's self, giving a nod she left. Makarov sat alone quietly deep in thought within the guild as he thought about everything.

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**Mirajane's home**

There was the sound of running water and the smell of an extremely sweet shampoo being used in the Strauss home tonight. It was coming from the upstairs shower. The woman within it was humming a song with a very sweet soothing tune to it. Soon though the water stopped and out came was a beautiful young woman with her hair wrapped in a towel as it dried. She dressed herself in a simple pink frilly night gown. Walking into her room, she sat down on the edge of her bed as she rubbed lotion on herself to maintain her delicate soft skin and glow. She was nearly done when there was a knock at her door.

"Come in." Opening the door and walking in was none other than Lisanna, the two shared a smile with one another.

"I'm glad to see you're back home Mira-nee!" Lisanna walked over to her and sat down on the bed beside her, she too was wearing her night gown as it was late at night now. Mirajane laughed at her younger sister's excitement at seeing her.

"I'm surprised you're still awake right now. Where's Elfman? I didn't see him when I came in." Lisanna pointed her right index finger off to the side and twirled it as she thought about where their broth was.

"I think he's still out on this job he told me about two days ago, he should be home tomorrow though." The bar mage smiled at hearing this.

"Well that's good; it'll be like a surprise at seeing me in the guild I guess." Lisanna nodded her head as they sat in silence for a bit, until the younger takeover mage spoke.

"Sooooo, was your job a success?" Mirajane lowered her head at this as she responded.

"…No…it wasn't. So many things went wrong way to quickly, we almost didn't come home." Her words left the younger sister baffled beyond belief.

"What? But you and Natsu were on this job as a team, how did things get that out of hand?" The white haired woman continued to look down while she thought about what to say next. She looked back up to Lisanna, making full eye contact with her. With a face of uncertainty, she spoke.

"Lisanna…before I tell you anymore about the job, I need to know something." Seeing that whatever it was that her older sister was going to say was bothering her, the younger sister proceeded to listen.

"What is it you want to ask Mira-nee?" Mirajane shifted hers eyes away from her.

"What do you think about Natsu, like, in terms of feelings towards him?" This caught Lisanna so off guard she nearly fell off the bed.

"Mira-nee!" Her reaction made the bar mage giggle.

"I'm sorry for being straight forward like that." Lisanna shrugged it off and smiled before responding.

"Anyway, to answer your question, I used to have a crush on him when we were young and played a lot. It was around that time when he found happy's egg and was playing house, those were fun times. Once I returned from Edolas I was happy to see him again and I jumped onto him, hugging him, I could tell that he was just as excited as I was." Mirajane sat quietly as she listened. "Though we were both happy, I just couldn't help but to feel as though the crush I had was gone. I think I missed his presence the most out of everything else; it wasn't the same without the Natsu and guild I knew. Why did you ask me this again?" She inquired Mirajane as she had finished talking, the older takeover mage sighed.

"The reason why I couldn't tell you just yet about what happened on the job is because it wouldn't have made since for how we made it out alive, plus you would have known that I was leaving things out anyway." Lisanna looked thoughtfully at Mirajane.

"Ok Mira-nee, it's time you explained to me exactly what all happened. I don't want to go to bed with a head ache from trying to figure out bits and pieces of information." The two takeover mages giggled a bit.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you…everything." There was silence for a moment until the bar mage began explaining everything. She told her about the job it's self, her developing feelings for Natsu before that, how they started getting closer to each other, them doing missions and everything up to this very point. By the end of her explanation, she was squeezing her left arm as she looked away from Lisanna. What happened next though, she never saw coming. She was being embraced by her younger sister who was smiling as she hugged her.

"Mira-nee, I don't care if you and Natsu are in love with each other. As long as my big sis is happy, that's all I could ask for, you deserve it. You already have done so much for me and Elfman, not to mention what you do for the guild, you needed someone who could treat you that way now and give you the kind of love you could only get from a significant other. I'm pretty sure that Natsu needs that kind of thing too and that's where things just go together so well between you two, it's kind of cute when you think about it that way huh." Frozen out of pure shock, Mirajane couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wrapped her arms around her little sister as they shared a warm sisterly hug. After hugging for a bit, Lisanna yawned as she stood up and headed to the door.

"Good night Mira-nee." Mirajane smiled at Lisanna as she waved to her.

"Good night Lisanna." The door to the room closed as it was nearly pitch black save for the moon light shining through the window, it felt good to sleep without a guilty conscious.

* * *

**Guild Hall**

It was just as noisy and rowdy as ever. All the members of Fairy Tail were engaged into some sort of conversation with each other. Mirajane was nearly done cleaning up at the bar as she noticed Natsu sitting with his team at their usual table; she decided to go sit with them for a bit when she was done cleaning up.

"So flame breath, what was your job all about?" Natsu glared at Grey as he retorted.

"As if I would tell you, Ice bastard." Grey stood up angrily and placed his hands in to the position to perform ice make magic.

"You want to fight you pyro maniac!?" Natsu leaped up from the table as well now and made a flaming fist of fire.

"Sure, you ice make want to freeze everything ass bastard!" They lunged at each other but stopped short of punching each other, they were feeling a dark vibe coming from the table. They looked over and saw an angry quiet Erza with her eyes closed and her arms folded. In a low voice, she spoke to them.

"Boys, you go any further with those actions I _will _intervene, understand?" Natsu and Grey stopped as they patted each other on the shoulders and sitting back at the table as if nothing happened.

"But really Grey, I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything or not." Grey nodded his head as he looked around the guild hall. Lucy, who had been sitting there the whole time, asked Erza about her job.

"It was just simple research." Was all Titania gave the young woman to go by. Natsu had laid his head down on the table as he was beginning to doze off. He was almost asleep until he suddenly felt some one sit down beside him, he opened his eyes.

"Hey Natsu, what you guys up to today?" It was Mirajane; she had finished cleaning up for the time being and was no sitting at the table with team Natsu. They told her hello as she smiled to them all. She leaned over and whispered into the dragon slayer's right ear, the face of shock raised eyebrows all around the table.

"Really? That's awesome!" Before anyone at the table could ask questions, their minds were blown right then and there. In front of them were Natsu and Mirajane, sharing a kiss. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone within the guild as there were gasp of surprise happening all over.

"WHAT. THE. HELL!?" Some random male guild member yelled from the very back of the guild hall. The two separated from each other. Natsu looked around at all of the surprised faces while Mirajane simply smiled.

"Umm, there's a reasonable explanation behind this, hehe…" The entire guild sat dead silent as they awaited the explanation.

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**That's all for chapter 12, hope you all enjoyed the read. I will fix any errors I've missed and feel free to leave feedback See you next update! :D**


	13. A Sour Note

**Finally the chapter is here! I apologize as there were a few inconveniences getting in the way of this update but finally it's here to be read! As I try to do on each up date (if you noticed) I would like to thank everyone who left feedback on the chapter BUT ALSO I want to thank the people that read and watch for updates even though they don't have an account (been there before) anyway, on to the story!**

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There was total silence within the guild hall as the members all, besides Master Makarov who was in his office at the time, waited to hear the explanation. The couple knew for a fact that there was easily over a million questions to be asked. Some, well, most of the guild all had the same question in mind though. How, out of all possibilities, did these two become a couple? It was legitimately confusing for them all. After another moment of silence, Mirajane began explaining everything. She started with them going on their first job and finishing with the last job they did, of course she left out some details though. She didn't say anything about the future visions they saw as she didn't want to worry the guild over something they didn't understand completely themselves yet. She also didn't go into major detail about how their relationship formed from subtle, yet, meaningful events such as how she and Natsu snuggled together when sleeping in the same bed. Mouths were agape after hearing the explanation. What happened next wasn't what the couple expected; the entire guild hall roared to life with joyful cheers. Completely caught off guard by the reaction, Natsu and Mirajane looked at each other and laughed.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting this much of a reaction." The takeover mage had to admit to the dragon slayer, to which he nodded.

"Same thing I was thinking but, that's Fairy Tail for ya!" They shared a laugh again as they continued to look around at the excited guild members in front of them. The members all soon began idly chattering about it all to each other, each sharing their own opinions.

"Sounds like you two really went through hell were glad to have you back home." Erza said while looking between the two of them. The bar mage shook her head in response.

"It was actually scarier than anything else when I think about it I mean, even though we escaped, we were still going to die anyway. The fact that we escaped when we did was pure luck. If we had of waited any longer, we wouldn't have landed on that island and we wouldn't have found that tree." Understanding what she was saying, Grey added on.

"And you two wouldn't have lived, damn." Mirajane nodded her head but then was suddenly struck by a new thought, she turned to Natsu.

"Natsu, I forgot that were suppose to tell Master about our job details." Standing up quickly the fire mage nodded in response.

"Yeah I forgot about that too actually, we should get going then." The white haired woman stood and followed the dragon slayer over to the guild Master's office.

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**Makarov's office**

Makarov Dreyar sat at his desk while drinking from a mug of beer. He could hear the guild's excitement over whatever it was that happened outside. Normally, he would go out to see what was all the racket about, but this time he decided to let the situation calm it's self. Bringing the mug to his mouth yet again for another swig, he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Setting his mug down, he responded to it.

"Please, come in." Walking through the door was Mirajane and Natsu; they closed the door behind them as walked up to Makarov and greeted him.

"Hello Master, were here to give you the full details of our last job." Makarov nodded at the takeover mage then leaned back in his chair.

"Ahh yes, please enlighten me." Closing her eyes, the young woman told the guild master everything dealing with job, well all except about her and Natsu's intimate words and interactions. She told him about the vision's that were displayed to the both of them as well. Makarov's eyes were wide open at this point. It made sense now why it was so hard for the bar mage to tell him when they returned, why she was so upset about her decision in the past regarding Tanaka, and why she and Natsu was holding hands in front of him. This information confirmed the statement he made to himself the day before; things are getting more and more complicated by the day. Makarov whistled a sigh as he rubbed his chin.

'_I don't know what's worse, Erza's report or these two.'_ Taking another swig from his mug, he began to speak.

"First off, even though the job was a failure, having you two back home is worth more than any amount of success. The next thing is, did you ever find out what she is after by chance? And is there any clue as to where she went?" Natsu was the one to speak for them now.

"There's no telling, she and her brother apparently aren't the type to rat themselves out to the enemy, they didn't even drop a hint. As for knowing where they were headed to, there's nothing on that either. Sorry gramps." The master only shook his head.

"Its fine Natsu, now my next immediate point of interest is those vision's you two saw, can we confirm that they're are believable? What do you think they mean anyway." Mirajane decided to explain this one.

"Well, the entity was able to save from certain death and that's proof of us standing here right now. If that's possible then I can't help but to believe the visions." Makarov frowned hard; this could only mean one thing.

"If the entity said that the baby's mother suffered a great lost then…" He began as Natsu finished for him.

"Whoever the father is, died…" There was total silence after that. There just wasn't enough information to go off of. Who was the mother? Who was the father? What happened to the father? And the most important one of all, why wasn't either one of them in any of the visions? The whole thought of it was creating major stress for the three wizards within the room, Makarov sighed once more.

"This is certainly frustrating to say the least. I need time to process all of this information, you two are free to leave, thank you." The two younger wizards nodded as they began heading to the door. Once they were gone, Makarov closed his eyes as he began to doze off, still baring this information in his head.

* * *

**A restaurant in Magnolia Town**

"So Natsu, you know the S-class trials are coming up soon, you think you're ready for it?" Natsu laughed hard at this.

"What kind of question is that? I've been waiting for this opportunity for ever!" It was now Mirajane's turn to laugh; she knew she would get this kind of reaction from him. She placed her head between both of her hands as she was leaning forward smiling at him.

"You know that I'm going to be one of the proctors right? What if you have to fight me, will you?" This caught the dragon slayer off guard until he caught on to what she was doing and grinned; he leaned forward some and gave her his answer.

"I guess I'll just have to beat your ass then wouldn't I." The takeover mage gasped in surprise then sat back and gave the fire mage a sad innocent look.

"You would beat up your own girlfriend for a dumb title?" Seeing the bar mage respond like this only edged Natsu on more.

"Not just any title, but an S-class title!" Knowing full well that he was joking, Mirajane put her face into the palm of her hands and began to fake cry. She heard Natsu slide his chair back as got up with a warm chuckle. From behind her she was wrapped in to a loving embrace.

"You know I would never intentionally hurt or harm you. Now, stop that all of that fake crying." Letting go of her, he kissed her for head then headed back to his seat across from her. Mirajane was blushing in embarrassment at the fact that he saw through her fake weeping, not to mention the hug and the words he said along with it. Shaking her head, she sighed with a smile.

"I guess there's no fooling you huh." Giving the white haired woman across from him a toothy grin, the fire mage replied.

"When it comes to you, you should know better." He watched as she pouted while crossing her arms and looking away. Chuckling yet again, he asked her a question. "So, when are the exams anyway? I'm stoked." The bar mage stopped pouting and responded.

"Hmm… I think It's in three weeks, master wasn't too sure when I asked him this morning, all he said was soon. I don't think it really matters for you anyway; you should automatically have a spot for obvious reasons. Have you thought about training some so you can be ready?" Taking a sip from her drink, she listened to his response.

"No I haven't had a chance to actually train for a while, well more or less I haven't had a reason to." Reaching a hand out, the pink haired mage grabbed a roll from the basket between them and began eating it as he waited for her reply.

"That's not good Natsu; if you actually want to make things go as smoothly as possible then I suggest you start training some." After speaking, she too reached for one of the bread rolls in the basket and began eating it. The spiked haired man across from her smirked.

"You may be right, but I think I'm just going to do this at my current level of strength, I should be just fine." The woman could only sigh at his response.

"If that's what you're set on doing then I guess there's no persuading you otherwise." She took a sip from her drink then placed her right elbow on the table so she could rest her head in the palm of her right hand. She was leaning forward once again on the table as she pointed the bread roll she had bitten off of at her boyfriend, who looked at her with a toothy grin.

"What is it?" Before giving a response, she smiled.

"I know it may sound crazy but I actually want to do another job, but nothing too serious. Probably something more like the first one we did, that one was nice wasn't it?" She took another bite from her bread roll as awaited his answer.

"Yeah, that'll be fine I guess. I have to admit, you were right about taking those easier jobs every now and then, they are needed. Just let me know when you pick one and you're ready to go, ok?" The beautiful white haired woman smiled excitedly and nodded her head.

"Ok, I'll pick one and bring it by your home tomorrow morning." Just as the fire mage was about to nod in acceptance, a thought crossed his mind.

"Wait, I don't remember you ever knowing where I live at." The bar mage laughed and gave him mischievous smile.

"Don't tell me you forgot." Scratching his head, the dragon slayer was completely confused.

"Forgot? Forgot what exactly?" Taking yet another sip from her drink, the takeover mage began to explain.

"Well I guess it was a bit far back…" the fire mage leaned in to hear every word.

**FLASH BACK**

A young Natsu Dragneel was enjoying himself along with his fellow guild mates at Fairy Tail as they all were celebrating after so many teams had a hard week of work, but ultimately they cleared out the request board. Natsu, being the hyper flame he was, had a fresh newly filled mug with simple grape fruit juice in his hand as he ran from table to table chatting with the members. He was currently at the table with the Strauss siblings while he idly chatted with Elfman and Lisanna about a job he had went on not long ago. Mirajane just sat at the table with her cup in front of her as she held a bored facial expression as she listened to him talk. Natsu was really getting into his story as he was making the other two siblings laugh. He was now standing on the table demonstrating some of the kicks and punches he used on the small demon he fault, everything was fine until he made that one fatal move. In the midst of him demonstrating a low kick, he accidently kicked his mug of grape juice into Mirajane's face, she was pissed. The entire guild seemed to pause at that very moment and waited to see what was going to happen, Mirajane just sat there, drenched with her head titled down as her face was cover by her bangs. Knowing just how dangerous thing were about to get, Natsu did the one best thing he could think of in this situation, he apologized profusely.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't kill meeeeee!" Sadly, his pleas fell on deaf ears. Seeing the emanate doom coming to her friend, Lisanna screamed at Natsu.

"RUN NATSUUUU!" The young dragon slayer set a trail of fire for home, just as Mirajane transformed into her Satan Soul takeover form and flew after him.

"DIEEEEEE, NATSUUUU!"It was amazing to see just how much ground the young fire mage covered as he was nearly home by now. It was night time as he ran through the woods to his home. After a bit more running, he had finally made it and yet, something was right as he felt extremely uneasy.

'_Huh, it's weird...I feel like I'm being watched, like prey by a predator!'_ He looked around everywhere; the least little sound would set off his senses. After not seeing anything or anyone, he sighed and shrugged it off as him just being paranoid. He turned around to walk into his home, until he bumped into something; it was Mirajane in her takeover form.

"A-AHH, M-M-M-MIRAJANE!?" He stared and stuttered out of pure fear and disbelief, the takeover mage smirked.

"Time for pay back, Nastuuuu!" She drew her right arm back in preparation to punch the young dragon slayer, until he started crying. She reverted back to normal but grabbed Natsu by the front of his shirt while blushing.

"Next time watch your actions or else it won't end so pretty, and you better not tell ANYONE that I let you off this easy either, got it?!" She watched as he nodded his head while still crying and struggling. She let him go and began walking back to the guild, but not before saying something else to him.

"And stop crying, I hate when you do that shit!" She started walking again as the dragon slayer got up and headed into his home for the night.

**Flash Back End**

Natsu sat at the table with his arms folded as he looked off into another direction, purposely not looking at the takeover mage. Mirajane could only laugh at the reaction he was giving her, which he grunted at.

"I hardly find that funny, I thought you were real scary back then." The bar mage stopped her laughing and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Are you implying I'm not scary anymore? Maybe I can change your mind…" She began thinking with a menacing smile; the dragon slayer quickly waved his hands in front of himself.

"Whoa no Mira, relax. I'm just saying that I've gotten used to your takeover form is all." The bar mage stopped thinking as she shook her head at him.

"It's ok, I know what you mean. I was joking anyway." She giggled softly; he just sighed and decided to move things forward.

"Anyway, what should we do now? Go back to the guild? The sun is starting to set." Mirajane sighed as well now once she realized he was right.

"I think I'm just going to head back home, I'm sure Elfman's probably there resting from his job by now. Sometimes if it's a real tiring one he'll go home and rest first before reporting back." She said all of this as she was standing up from the table and pushing in her chair. Natsu stood as well after paying and leaving a tip on the table. He walked over to Mirajane and grabbed her hand as they began to walk to her house.

* * *

**The Strauss Home**

The couple stood on Mirajane's door step as they had just shared a kiss with each other. They were looking at each other in the eyes while they were in an embrace, Mirajane ask him a question.

"You know that it's ok for you to come in right?" Natsu looked at her with a raised eye brow.

"Elfman doesn't know that were dating though." She smirked at her boyfriend.

"You know that Elfman would have no problem with you dating his older sister. I'm pretty sure all he's going to say is, 'Natsu, you're dating my big sister!? That's so manly!', and then he'll laugh." Chuckling a bit, Natsu decided to go ahead spend a little time with the Strauss siblings.

"Alright Mira, I'll stick around for a bit." His reward was her giving him a quick peck on the lips as she opened the door to her home. Inside, the lights were on and the sound of someone in the kitchen could be heard setting items on the counter. Walking they turned to see Elfman in the kitchen making himself some sandwiches. He had his back to them; Mirajane turned and placed a finger to Natsu's lip telling him to be quite as she sneaked over behind her brother. Once she was behind him, she gave him a hug while laughing.

"Welcome home Elfman!" The incredibly built man turned around and picked his older sister up in a firm hug.

"Mira-nee, you're back!" Natsu just stood and watched the two siblings have their moment, it was nice. Elfman looked behind his sister head and saw the dragon slayer standing in the living room; he put Mirajane down and walked over to him. Holding a fist out, him and Natsu bumped knuckles.

"I'm glad to see you're back too Natsu, thanks for to taking good care of my sister." The fire mage nodded and grinned as he sat down on the couch; Mirajane brought Elfman's plate of sandwiches over to the table in front of the couch and sat down in between her brother and her boyfriend.

"It's good to be back, and no problem Elfman it's what we do, you know that." Elfman chuckled a bit before he started eating one of his three sandwiches, the sound of someone else coming from upstairs got their attention as they looked over and saw Lisanna appear from around the corner, she greeted Natsu and Mirajane as she and Elfman already said there hellos earlier.

"Mira-nee, Natsu, I see you two are back from your date." She saw the couple's eyes widen at this which only made hers do the same, Elfman stopped eating and sat his sandwich down on the plate.

"A date? Mira-nee and Natsu?" he looked at them only to see them nod slowly at him, nobody made a sound. Lisanna, Mirajane, and Natsu watched curiously as Elfman sat there processing what he heard. There was another moment of silence, before.

"Natsu, you're dating my big sister!? That's so manly!" though he was happy that his sister and the dragon slayer was a couple, he sadly smashed his sandwiches in the process of him slamming his fist down onto the table. The two sisters shook their heads while Natsu point a finger at the plate.

"Umm, Elfman? Your sandwiches…" The white haired man looked down at what he had done. Chuckling, he picked up one of the flattened sandwiches and continued eating while saying.

"It's ok, eating a flattened sandwich is manly!" They all laughed at his opinion of what it means to be a man. There chat went on for while until it had become really late now, Natsu bided them goodbye and gave Mirajane a hug before heading home.

* * *

**Natsu's Home**

He was tired, the day had been a nice one for him but all he wanted now was sleep. He walked through the forest leading up to his home. Suddenly all his senses were screaming at him as the smell of smoke entered his nostrils; just up ahead he could see an orange hue through the forest. Gritting his teeth he began running at full speed to his home, what he saw filled him with so much rage he shook violently. In front of him was his home, surrounded by cloaked people as they watched it burn to the ground completely. Not waiting even a second, Natsu exploded in a blaze of flames as he rushed in and started fighting them.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY HOUSE!?" The leader of the small group held up a hand, making a signal for them to retreat. He stood in front of the burning home as he looked Natsu dead in the eyes with a smirk.

"Natsu Dragneel now is not the time for us to do battle. Don't worry though, this is only the beginning." Using wind magic, Natsu could only watch as the man floated away with his retreating men. No one else was in the woods except for a huffing dragon slayer; he looked up into the night sky and roared an enormous breath of fire.

* * *

**The Strauss Home**

It was quiet all throughout the house as Mirajane stood in the kitchen drinking a glass of juice. She was asleep earlier, but was awakened by her need of a beverage. Feeling better now that she had quenched her thirst, she was on her way back up stairs to her bed until she was stopped by a knock at the door. Wondering who it could be at this time of night, she walked down stairs to answer it, she was beyond shocked.

"Natsu!?" Standing before her was the fire mage with dirtied clothing and clenched fists.

"…They burnt it all down…Everything…It's all gone now…" Mirajane pulled him inside caringly and closed the door behind him. She brought him into an embrace and started talking to him.

"What's gone Natsu? What happened to you?" She knew that it was bad, but his answer couldn't have surprised her more.

"My house…It's gone…they burnt it all down…" Mirajane gasped sharply with widened eyes.

"They? Who are they Natsu?" She could feel him stiffen up at this.

"I don't know who they are!" The takeover mage rubbed his back lovingly.

"Shh, Shh, It's ok Natsu; everything is going to be ok Natsu. Just tell me this…Was Happy there?" The dragon slayer shook his head.

"No he's been staying over with Wendy and Carla for the past two months now." The bar mage sighed a breath of relief at hearing this, she let go of him.

"I'm glad he's ok. I want you to go up stairs and take a shower; I'm going to let you borrow some of Elfman's shorts to sleep in while I wash your clothes. We can talk about this tomorrow once you've had rest." Natsu nodded as that was all he could do.

"Thank you Mira, I love you and I'm sorry that I yelled at you." Mirajane smiled warmly.

"I love you to Natsu and its ok; you're going through a hard time. This relationship is supposed to be a dedicated partnership, it wouldn't be right for me to be the only one being comforted when I'm down or in a bind. Now, go ahead and take your shower, then come to my room to go to sleep, I'll leave the door open." Somehow in spite of everything that just happened to him, Natsu smiled.

"I really can't see myself with anyone else but you; I'll see you in a bit." He began walking off to the upstairs restroom to take a shower leaving a happy Mirajane behind.

'_Who would do this to you, Natsu…' _She wondered this to herself as she headed up stairs as well.

* * *

**Well there goes the chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it, and feel free to leave feedback! See you next update :D**


	14. Family and Tough Love

**The new chapter! I apologize (as usual :P) for the late update but it's here finally! I'm very pleased with the feedback I got from the last chapter, glad to see you all are still invested in the story XD Well, begin reading!**

* * *

It was the best sleep experience he'd had in a long time. He felt as if he was sleeping on a cloud that floated in only one spot, it was amazing. The warmth from his body seemed to last longer on whatever kind of material this was. Becoming aware of the sunlight's presence beaming onto his eyelids, he awakened from his slumber.

'_I haven't slept this well since I was with Igneel, this is amazing.' _Still lying down under the covers, he looked around. _'So, this is Mira's room, it looks and smells so nice.' _As he took in his surroundings more, he noticed that he was the only one in the bed. Just as he was about to wonder where Mirajane was, the smell of bacon entered his nose. _'Ah, she must be downstairs, guess I'll head down now.' _Throwing his feet out of bed, he stood up and took notice of his attire. He was wearing a pair of shorts that felt a size to big and was shirtless. This made him sigh as every detail of last night came back into his head, crystal clear. Natsu walked out of the room after thinking a bit longer.

Once he was down stairs he noticed Mirajane standing at the stove cooking what he could only assume to be breakfast as it was still pretty early in the morning, he greeted her.

"Good morning, Mira." The cooking bar mage turned around and greeted the dragon slayer who was walking towards the table in the average sized dining room area, which was just on the right of the kitchen. He pulled a chair out and sat down as he looked around at the setting he was in. The table was a medium size circular wooden one with a decorative red flower petal cover over it. Mirajane came out of the kitchen with two plates of food, sitting one in front of Natsu and the other at the spot she was going to sit at which was on his right. After she came back from getting them some freshly made tea the salamander asked a question.

"Where are Elfman and Lisanna?" Taking a few bites of food, she waited a moment before answering.

"They already left for the guild; I told them I would be late today. More importantly though, how are you feeling Natsu? Do you want to talk about what happened?" The young man's face hardened as he locked his hands in front of his face.

"…Yeah, I was walking through the forest leading up to my home when I started smelling smoke and saw a orange hue of light, so naturally I figured a forest fire was started, I was wrong. Once I came out of the woods, I saw my house burning down while it was surrounded by cloaked people. I rushed in immediately and began beating their ass's until the leader called for a retreat. This person, whoever he is, stood in front of the fire and stared dead into my eyes with a smirk. He said 'Now is not the time to fight and that it was only the beginning', or something like that." The bar mage listening took in all of this and frowned.

"Can you give a description of what color you think the cloaks were? I know it must be a bit hard because it was dark." Shaking his head, he responded.

"Nah, I saw them. The group cloak colors were brown and the leader's was a gray one." Taking a cautious sip from her still fairly hot tea, Mirajane closed her eyes then opened them with a sigh.

"Well, we're definitely telling master about this for sure. We aren't going to be able to do anything about them right now; they could be miles and miles away at this point sadly. With that said, I guess the next thing to discuss is your house." Natsu looked at her confused.

"What about it? It's burned down." Mirajane decided to explain more.

"I'm asking do you want to build a new house, you know, from scratch." The fire mage was quiet for a moment before he smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'll build a new one. It'll be better than the last one for sure!" He thrust a flaming fist in the air causing his girlfriend to laugh at his display of excitement, she was happy to see that he was feeling a bit better now. A thought came to him though. "But wait, I don't have the money I need for that kind of construction." The takeover mage only smiled at this.

"Well I guess we better get to completing some jobs then huh? I'll help you build your home too." Natsu wanted to tell her that he didn't want her to be away from the guild for that long helping him, but looking into her cheerful eyes convinced him otherwise.

"Yeah you're right Mira, though it's going to be a pain in the ass. Well in any case, just sitting around here isn't going to build a house. Let's eat and get over to the guild, it's going to be a long day." Mirajane drunk some of her tea before agreeing with a nod.

"Right." They finished their breakfast in a timely manner before taking turns showering. Once that was done, they left for the guild hall.

* * *

**Guild Hall**

Everyone was pretty upset at the moment. Master Makarov had just finished telling the guild about what happened to Natsu's house. Natsu and Mirajane, who were standing beside him at the bar looking out to the entire guild, already knew what would happen when they told him, but that didn't mean they knew EVERY thing. Makarov's next words threw them off a bit, yet somehow they were expected.

"And so we, the entire Fairy Tail guild, will aid Natsu in building a new house!" As he said this, the guild exploded into cheers of agreement, Natsu stood frozen for a second but then gave his signature smile. He turned to Mirajane.

"This is great Mira! With the help of the guild, my house could be built by as early as tomorrow!" The eldest Strauss sister felt just as excited as he did, Makarov asked the dragon slayer a question.

"So Natsu, have you created any blue prints for the house yet?" He shook his head.

"No, I uh-" The fire mage's response was interjected by the bar mage.

"I'll be handling that part of the construction." She gave her boyfriend a thumb up before continuing. "Don't worry though, I'll sit down and make them with you so you can see what you want." He nodded giving her his approval; Makarov then asked his next question.

"How long do you think it will take you to create the blue prints? We could get the majority of the build out of the way today, if we could start that is." Mirajane grabbed Natsu's hand and began walking towards the guild entrance, but stopped and turned around to give the guild master an answer.

"We will have the blue prints done within an hour at the most!" The couple left the guild quickly.

* * *

**A Park in Magnolia**

It was warm out today as Fairy Tail's newest couple was sitting at a round stone table in a section of the beautifully flower decorated park. They were there to draw out the blue prints for building a home. At the moment though, only the white haired woman was drawing as the pink haired man slept with his head against the table.

"Natsuuuu come on, you have to stay awake for this part. I mean, it _is _your home we're designing after all." He groaned but finally sat up and paid attention. He glanced over the sketch and then sighed as he looked at his girlfriend.

"I like everything about it but…what is all this for?" She looked down at the colorful animals and flowers she had drawn on the paper, she made a fake sadden face.

"My drawings aren't worthy enough to be included on your blue print sheet?" The dragon slayer simply laughed at her reaction while grabbing the paper and pencil.

"I'm joking, I love your drawings but, your design is missing a few important things. In the upstairs part, there needs to be more bedrooms. A master bedroom with two regular bedrooms, there needs to be a deck to walk out onto through the master bedroom also. Other than that, it's going to look amazing!" The bar mage wanted to question his changes to the blue prints out of curiosity but she was unable to as he had gotten up and began pulling her along back to the guild hall.

'_What would Natsu need a deck added on for? And what about the two extra rooms?'_ She wondered this as they ran a bit faster.

* * *

**The Strauss Home**

By the sound of things, it would appear that the whole house was asleep at this moment. This probably would have been true if it weren't for to mages still awake.

"Hey Mira, you're awake right? I need to ask you a question…" They were lying under the covers of Mirajane's bed after a long day, he held her in his arms.

"Sure, is something wrong Natsu?" She felt his body temperature rise slightly as his heart rate increased as well.

"I wanted to know if… you wanted to move in with me once my house was finished being built." He had no way of knowing what her response would be, but he noticed that it did in fact catch her off guard.

"Yes…I want to move in with you, but I need to make sure that Lisanna and Elfman would be comfortable with me leaving them here to live with you. I could ask them tomorrow." She felt his body temperature drop back to its original temperature as he sighed and squeezed her a little tighter.

"That's fine with me; I was just worried that you wouldn't want to." He closed his eyes as he was slowly becoming overtaken by sleep, Mirajane began to speak though.

"I know that we haven't even been a couple for a week yet but…It feels like we've been together for much longer than that. To be honest Natsu, I haven't forgotten the first night you and I slept like this. Ever since then, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing every night I would go to sleep without being in your arms." The dragon slayer stayed silent as he could tell that she wasn't completely finished yet. "I guess what I'm saying is, I've been waiting for you to ask me that for the longest." She yawned after she finished and closed her eyes as well, sleep was fast approaching. The fire mage chuckled softly.

"I'm glad to hear you say that because I felt the same way about sleeping like this. That really makes me happy Mira." The last part came out in a mumbled slur as he had finally fallen asleep. The takeover mage giggled a bit as she realized this, but soon she fell asleep as well.

* * *

**Natsu's Home**

It was late evening as the build of Natsu's home had just come to an end. Fairy Tail worked quickly and efficiently for a total of twenty hours. They worked ten the day before and ten today, it was definitely the quickest built home in history probably, though there would be no way of knowing if that was true or not. The house looked amazing all around in and out. The exterior of the home was painted in the same colors as the old one; a tan beige color with a bright red roof. Inside, the walls were painted a sky blue color with white borders. There wasn't any furniture in it yet though as Natsu and Mirajane agreed on going furniture shopping together one week before the S-class exams start. Ever one cheered and celebrated the success in completing the build so quickly plus the fact that Natsu now had a new home to return to. Some wondered why he would need a home so big with three bedrooms not to mention the added deck outside the master bedroom. Though these thoughts were in most of their heads, they ignored it ultimately. It was getting late as the guild members were all heading back home. Elfman and Lisanna were just about to leave as well until their older sister called their names. The two siblings stopped and came back as they now stood in front of Mirajane and Natsu.

"You wanted something Nee-Chan?" The two siblings asked as takeover brought her hands together in front of her.

"… I wanted to know how you two would feel if I…did something…" Eyes filled with worry and confusion were centered on the bar mage as the siblings wondered what it could be; they both asked her at the same time.

"Did something like… what exactly?" The looks in their eyes pushed her enough to finish her question.

"Natsu asked me to move in with him last night and…I said yes but, I wanted to know how you two would feel if I left home." By the end of her question, she had shifted her eyes to the right and down at the ground, Natsu remained quiet the whole time. He watched as the two younger siblings walked up to the unsuspecting takeover mage and brought her into a hug, a smile graced his face as he listened to their next words, starting with Lisanna.

"Mira-nee remember what I told you the night you returned? It's your turn to experience your own happiness for yourself only, something that no one else can take from you." Elfman decided to add on to Lisanna's statement.

"Lisanna's right Mira-nee, besides, it was only a matter of time before you would be taken away by a manly man." The male takeover mage glanced at Natsu with a grin who intern grinned back. Mirajane was at a loss of words. She didn't know that her siblings were so prepared for something like this.

"I didn't know you two would be so prepared for something like this." They let go of their older sister as Lisanna responded to her.

"Something like this? Mira-nee you're making it sound like you're going to war and not coming back or something." Elfman once again added on to Lisanna's words.

"Yeah Mira-nee, no matter what, we are and always will be a close family." Their words filled the bar mage with happiness. She felt absolutely free now that she knew her siblings would be ok without her there at home.

"You're right, no matter what; we will always be a close family, and nothing will ever change that. Now let's go home and have dinner together, I haven't moved out yet." They all were smiling as they walked through the woods to get back to the Strauss home.

* * *

**The Strauss Home **

Dinner had been an enjoyable one as everyone ate well and shared various stories. The couple was now in Mirajane's bed, having a quiet conversation while under the covers. Moonlight was the only form of light to be found in the room at this time of night.

"Mira." She turned over to face him while answering.

"Yes Natsu?" He remained quiet for a bit as he held his right hand in the air while looking at his palm.

"It's been on my mind and well, I decided that a little bit of training would be helpful." The takeover mage couldn't believe her ears. Her boyfriend, who previously laughed at the idea of training for the exams, changed his mind and was now going to train anyway. She laid her head onto his chest as she smiled happily.

"You don't know how happy that makes me to hear you say that, I really want you to become an S-class mage. I want to help you with your training if that's ok. You have power but you could use a bit more speed, there's no point in having power if you can't reach your enemy." Natsu brought his hand down and began to gently rub his hand through her beautifully white hair, he smiled.

"Why wouldn't it be ok? I just wonder how you plan on getting my speed up." A mischievous smile crossed her face as she closed her eyes.

"You'll just have to wait, were starting tomorrow. Enough time has already gone by, we can't waste anymore. Goodnight Natsu." The dragon slayer was unpleased with the answer as he whined her name.

"Miiiiiiirrrrrraaaaa come ooooonnn; give me a hint at least." Mirajane frowned a bit, which he couldn't see as she was still lying on his chest.

"No, now goodnight Natsu!" Sighing, he gave up on his futile efforts.

"Ok, goodnight Mira." Sleep ensued them both.

* * *

**A Deep Forest in Magnolia**

The sun was shining as bright as ever on this wonderfully warm day in magnolia. Its wonderful rays of sunlight didn't go unnoticed by two Fairy Tail Mages standing in a forest clearing.

"It's hot as hell! What are we going to do out here anyway?" The pink haired wizard yelled out, making the white haired wizard laugh. The male wizard had four seals on himself, two for his legs and two for his arms. These seals were magical weight seals. Each seal added one-hundred and twenty pounds, totaling out to an extra weight of four-hundred and eighty pounds. Just walking to the forest felt like a miserable task to complete, now he had to find out what else his girlfriend had in store for him.

"The best way for you to probably build your speed up would be to raise three things, stamina, strength, and reaction time." Natsu thought it over for a moment then nodded in agreement as he pieced it together.

"Ok that makes sense but, how am I supposed to do that if I'm not fighting anyone?" Just as he said this, Mirajane's demeanor changed drastically, she smiled sinisterly. Dark purple magic energy began to display its self around her, Natsu's eyes widen as far as they could. "Mira…what are you…doing?" Dust had picked up within the air around her which then dispersed as her appearance changed to her Satan Soul's demonic form; she held her left hand out while forming a ball of dark energy, aimed for Natsu. "Mira, you're not serious." She held her serious demonic expression as she fired the ball of energy directly at Natsu who barely had time to move out of the way as it destroyed a large amount of trees; she prepared another one, this time even more powerful.

"Right now at this very moment, I am the Demon Mirajane. You have two options, fight me seriously…or die!" She released the blast yet again as Natsu dodged it just in time, only to get punched in the stomach and sent through three trees. He coughed as he struggled to get up; he looked out at the clearing where Mirajane stood waiting for him to reappear.

'_Shit…she's dead serious. What do I do…?" _He watched as she began walking into his direction, she looked so intimidating._ 'What do I do!?' _She gained a demonic smirk as she launched forwards at him with her right fist ready to deal damage.

* * *

**Guild Hall**

Team Natsu sat at their usual table with an addition of Lisanna, who was idly talking with Lucy about random things in general. Erza was enjoying one of the many sweets she like eating when in the guild. Gray looked around then asked Erza a question.

"Hey Erza, doesn't it feel like something's missing here?" Titania looked around as she tried to figure out what the ice mage was talking about, and then it dawned on her.

"Natsu and Mirajane aren't here. I wonder where they are." Hearing this, Lisanna answered her.

"Well, you know the S-class exams are in two weeks right? Well Natsu said that he wanted to train a bit for it, so he and Mira-nee are probably training somewhere right now, I really do feel sorry for him…" The entire table gasped in surprise as the mental image of Mirajane in her Satan Soul form appeared in their heads, Lucy spoke next.

"Training with Mirajane!? That sounds more like suicide!" Lisanna laughed as she too thought about just how brutal her sister could be, Erza got over her shock and voiced what was one the whole table's mind.

"I wonder how things are going." They all sat quiet as they each envisioned their own ideas.

* * *

**A Deep Forest in Magnolia**

He could feel it, she was close by. He had been running from her for a full hour now, the tension he was feeling was high. It was as if he was a kind of prey, a rat maybe, and she was a boa constricting snake, capable of sniffing him out from anywhere. He was now hiding behind two trees that had grown too close to each other; she called out for him in that demonic voice of hers.

"Natsuuuu where are youuuuu?" She had gotten much closer than she was just a moment ago. Natsu couldn't shake the feeling that she knew where he was and was only toying with him; her voice regained its serious tone. "You can't hide forever, Natsu."

'_Stupid weight spell! I can barely run at all!' _His nose began to give him the feeling of needing to sneeze. _'I can't sneeze, I can't sneeze, I can't sneeze!' _It sounded like she was closing in on him slowly and then, it happened.

"AACHOO!" It felt like everything stopped, there wasn't one sound being made. _'No!'_ Slowly peering around the tree, his blood ran cold as he was face to face with his predator. It all happened in what felt like slow motion. Mirajane brought her right arm down in a swiping motion aimed for Natsu's neck as he dodged it. As he moved away, he watched as her hand cut clean through the tree. With this near miss, they were back to their game of cat and mouse.

This extremely dangerous style of training will continue until the last two days before the S-class exams.

* * *

**Chapter 14 complete! So next chapter will be the start of the S-class exams a.k.a the Tenroujima Arc (Which I have a few plans for) I plan on at least starting on the chapter today but I can! In any case, feel free to leave feedback and I'll fix the errors ASAP, see you soon! :D**


	15. No More Games, The S-Class Trials Begin!

**Chapter 15 is here! As I said in the previous chapter, I have a few changes here and there for the Tenroujima Arc. Thanks for the follows, favorites, and feedback on the story. Now, you can begin reading :D**

* * *

The streets were filled with people going about their everyday lives in Magnolia, Natsu and Mirajane were among them. With his weight seals removed after yesterdays training session, training had finally ended for the dragon slayer. While walking to a furniture shop down the street, he glanced over at his girlfriend. The past two weeks were absolutely brutal for him, it was nearly a week before he had gotten used to the weight and was able to actually fight back.

Once this happened though, the playing field changed a bit. He was able to start bringing a real fight to her, well, somewhat at least. She restricted him to only using his fire dragon's roar, this proved to be a good thing actually. With that restriction, he was forced to get in close range if he wanted to hit her. His strength and speed had increased to the point where he was nearly as fast as Mirajane when she's just playing around, though that's saying a lot.

In the end though, they both gained something from this. Yesterdays training session wasn't all centered on Natsu.

**Flash Back**

Natsu stood panting hard as he stared across the now destroyed field they were training in at Mirajane. She started walking over to him as he started running at her with his right fist drawn back. Once he was in front of her, he threw his punch at her, only for it to be stopped with a single hand.

"That's enough Natsu; this portion of your training is done." Her words surprised him, his training was complete?

"What do you mean by 'this portion' of my training is done? What's next?" She walked beside him and face the same direction he was looking in, she held her hands to her left side as a dark ball of energy appeared while steadily growing.

"Natsu, I want you to use your Fire Dragon's Roar, were going to create our own unison raid." He stared wide at her but nodded none the less as he wondered how destructive it would be. There was also the fact that they would have their own exclusive unison raid.

"Ok, this should be awesome!" They charged up both of their spells to, what they thought was a suitable level and closed their eyes. Their energy was becoming one, synced in a perfect harmony; the sky had gotten a bit dim. Once a couple more moments passed, they released their spells. Two waves of energy, a Fire Dragon's Roar and Mirajane's Soul Extinction, intertwined with each other creating a single wave of bright orange and purple energy headed straight for an even deeper part of the forest. It hit a tree and exploded into a massive dome, completely obliterating everything within a mile wide radius while shaking the ground a great bit, it was amazing. Once the blast was over, they ran to where it hit to see the damage done, their mouths dropped. Mirajane looked over to Natsu.

"I think that was too much…" That was an understatement. In front of them was an eighth of a mile deep crater, Natsu spoke next.

"There's no way to cover this up, is there?" The takeover mage shook her head as she grabbed Natsu and took flight. She was speeding through the air at near break neck speeds, trying to get them back to her and her sibling's home.

"Nope, we need to leave the area for a while." They picked up more speed at this point.

**Flash Back End**

"Mira, we never named that unison raid of ours." Mirajane thought for a moment then snapped her fingers.

"Fire Dragon's Soul Extinction Roar, does that sound bad?" Natsu thrust a fist in the air with excitement.

"That's sounds so awesome!" She giggled at him and grabbed his hand; they had arrived at the furniture shop. They walked in and were amazed at the vast amount of different furniture to pick from. It wasn't long after walking around a bit that a salesman appeared and helped them find the style of furniture they was looking for. This went on for at least an hour, which was definitely to the dismay of the dragon slayer. The salesman offered them a cart they could rent to take home the massive amount of furniture but they opted not to accept the offer. Using a gigantic tarp, Mirajane used Satan Soul to simply air lift everything to her and Natsu's new home. The fire mage waited for her to come back to the shop and pick him up while returning the tarp. Her appearance did frighten most of the people in the area as it wasn't an everyday thing to see a demon at your local furniture shop. After grabbing hold of Natsu, they flew back to their house and began loading all of the furniture into it while arranging it the way they wanted it. All in all, it was a long day for the couple.

* * *

**Two Days Later**

Today was the day, the S-class trials would be held on the sacred island of Tenroujima. Morning light shined through the bedroom window of Natsu and Mirajane's home. It beamed its bright wave of light onto their sleeping faces, causing one of them to stir and awake from their slumber, it was Mirajane. She sat up and looked around; to the right of her was a sleeping Natsu.

'_I'm really living with you now, aren't I, Natsu.'_ Carefully getting out of bed, she headed downstairs to the kitchen._ 'I better make a good breakfast for him, he'll need it.' _At that thought, she wasted no more time as she started humming and cooking. Back up stairs, the sleeping dragon slayer awakened.

'_Man I slept great! What's that smell?' _He sniffed the air a bit more before it was very obvious. _'Alright! Mira's cooking breakfast! I better go ahead and wash up; she's just going to tell me to anyway.' _Leaping out of bed quickly, the fire mage rushed to the bathroom in their room and started showering.

* * *

Breakfast was a tasteful, yet, quick one as the couple needed to start getting dressed for today. Ever since the first morning of Mirajane living with Natsu, the young pink haired man would help her put away the dishes. Him doing this was a great help to her as it would cut down on the time it would take to clean, dry, and store them. They had just finished with everything in the kitchen that was dirty and began heading up stairs. Just as they reached the top, the dragon slayer started tickling the takeover mage on her sides; she burst into laughter while trying to run away from him.

"Kyaaaah! Natsu stop! Please!" They had made it into their bedroom as he continued tickling her viscously. He had gotten so caught up in his current action that he mistakenly tripped both of them up and fell onto the bed, all the laughing ended there. The two mages stared into each other's eyes. Natsu's left hand was on her right breast while he held himself up with his right hand pressing down onto the bed, they were both blushing furiously. Their eyes narrowed a bit as their lips began getting closer and closer to each other, they locked lips. The two have kissed several times before since, what would have been, their last day living, but somehow this felt different. This kiss unlocked a new feeling, a wild one. After a few more moments of sharing that one kiss they separated and was again staring into each other's eyes, this time the white haired woman said something.

"…Natsu…I…" Hearing her say his name brought him back to reality, he looked at the position they were in and where his hand was, his eyes widened as he leaped to his feet.

"Mira I'm-" He was cut off in the middle of his explanation, Mira sat up on the foot of the bed as she looked at him with a warm smile while still blushing.

"I-It's ok Natsu, I wouldn't have resisted…" While saying that last word, she casted her gaze to the ground out of embarrassment. The fire mage's blood only seemed to rise higher to his head as he was now beet red and his mind was blown, Mirajane went on to say more. "W-We should probably start getting ready to leave. Look in that drawer on my side of the bed, there should be some motion sickness pills in there. Take four; you're going to be on the boat for a while." She got up from the bed and wrapped her arms around the still slightly blushing fire mage. "We won't see each other until the end of the first trial, please be careful. Now go on and get ready, I need to catch the examiners boat in twenty minutes anyway." She let go of Natsu and headed into the rest room with her change of clothes, the pink haired man stood still for another moment with a now light blush as a single question remained in his head.

'_Did Mira just say…She wouldn't have resisted!?'_ He scratched the back of his head as he went to the drawer she told him about to get the motion sickness medicine.

* * *

**Tenroujima **

They had been at sea for some hours before finally reaching the sacred island of Tenroujima, the holy ground of the Fairy Tail guild. Just being in its presence was rejuvenating; there isn't a feeling like it anywhere else in the world. Master Makarov stood in front of the eager potential S-class mages with his arms folded while wearing a smirk on his face.

"Ok brats listen up; the trials are about to begin; but first were going over what's new." Everyone was listening with all ears, not missing a word. They watched as he raised his right hand in the air and turned it halfway, he was signaling for something. Three figures appeared from three of the passages behind the guild master, the group stood shocked. Their shock wasn't so much as for Erza and Mirajane, but it was Gildarts they were focused on the most. Many of them began whispering to each other about his the man while Mirajane looked over to Erza to make a comment.

"My, my, it looks like Gildarts is getting all of the attention." Titania nodded in agreement and sighed.

"It appears that way huh? Ahh well." After a few more moments passed Makarov cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention in the process.

"In the first trial period, you will do a bit of hide and seek." There were looks of confusion among the potential S-class mages, Makarov continued on into an explanation. "By hide and seek I mean, only three groups will be inside the forest, which is on the other side of the island, and will be searching for an opponent A.K.A the enemy. You can use whatever you want to find them with, and also just to add a twist to things; they'll be searching for you as well. I'm sure that you all understand how important it is that you find them first. Once you battle them and win, they will give you an envelope containing a confirmation letter." This was definitely something new for the S-class exams; Cana asked an important question next.

"Wait so, what about everyone else?" Makarov chuckled at the young woman.

"That's simple." He pointed at the passages behind him and the three examiners. "They will go inside of the passages. All except one group will be in battle; the group that doesn't fight anyone took the calm rout. Now, the groups that will be heading to the forest are, Natsu and Happy, Gray and Loke, and Elfman and Evergreen. Everyone else can go ahead and run through any passage you'd like." Once everyone else left, Makarov turned to the examiners.

"You three go on and enter the forest, Natsu, Gray, and Elfman's groups will board the ship again. We will circle the Island twice before I let them enter the forest as well that should be plenty enough time for you to get spread out and in control of your own search area, now let's get moving!" They all nodded a confirmation of agreement then started running off to where they needed to be.

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Natsu **

One hour later after circling the island, the three groups were set free to explore the forest. Natsu and Happy decided that scanning the area from the sky would be their best bet, the dragon slayer really wanted to do battle with the scarlet haired mage.

"Can you see her Happy?" The blue exceed looked down over the forest.

"No luck, she's not in this part I guess." Happy's grip began to slip before he tightened it again, the fire mage sighed.

"Ok Happy, take us down to one of those big tree branches, maybe while we rest up a bit, one of them will pass through." Their altitude began to plummet safely as they were approaching a tree branch to sit on.

"Aye sir!" Things for them had been pretty bland ever since they left the ship; it was seriously starting to irritate Natsu.

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Gray**

Natsu wasn't the only one in the forest who was starting to become irritated with not finding someone to fight, Gray and Loke had been searching for awhile and yet there was no one.

"Ahhh Mannnn this blows! There are three of them and we can't even find one." Loke sat down under a tree as Gray sat on the other side of the tree.

"Tell me about it, I imagined that we would have at least found one of them by now but I guess not, they're making this searching thing tough. I wonder-" The ice make mage raised an I brow as he called out to his partner.

"You wonder what man?" Standing up from his spot, he walked around to the other side of the tree then stopped while staring with wide eyes, but then narrowed them.

"Of course it would be you, what luck." In front of him stood none other than Erza Scarlet, she held Loke's mouth shut while holding her sword to his neck, she smirked at the shirtless male.

"Well hello to you to, Gray." Taking a look between Titania and the captive partner Loke, the ice mage face palmed.

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Elfman**

"That's not manly at all!" Elfman and Evergreen were currently standing behind a tree as they bickered about which direction they should go in to search for one of the examiners. Evergreen suggested heading east while Elman wanted to go west and complained about how unmanly it was to go east, which made no sense at all to Evergreen as she became irritated with him.

"That doesn't make any sense!" The white haired man was about to say something else but couldn't even start talking as she went on. "And why in the hell is everything supposed to be manly anyway!? I mean sure, a guy do manly things but it doesn't just stop there for you do it!? You even go as far as calling women manly! What sense does that make!?" All the time the browned haired woman was ranting, the middle Strauss sibling saw something in the distance dashing back and forth between the trees. A chill ran down his spine as he had felt this feeling in the air before, she was coming.

"Ever-" The woman continued to rant on and on about the use of the word manly.

"Save it, there's no justi-" The muscular man In front of her tackled her to the ground, just as a ball of dark purple energy destroyed the tree behind them.

"That was close, Ever are you ok?" Elfman got up then reached down to help her up; she looked around the area and didn't see anyone else but them.

"What was that…?" Transforming into his beast soul takeover, Elfman answered her.

"Looks like she found us." The brown haired woman looked at him quizzically.

"She... Wait, you don't mean!?" Grabbing hold of realization stricken woman, the male takeover mage leaped into the air and landed on to a nearby tree branch just as another blast of dark energy destroyed a tree.

"That's right, _her._ Mira-neeeee, this isn't manly, you're playing dirty!" Mirajane walked out casually from behind another tree, she flew up to them and stopped.

"…The real test…begins now!" She punched Elfman deep in the stomach, sending him to the ground quickly, now her attention was on Evergreen who was still on the tree branch. Her eyes were cold and her face held a serious look to it, she held out her hand to prepare another ball of dark energy. "You're next."

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Natsu**

High up on a surprisingly comfortable tree branch was a sleeping fire mage and his blue exceed. The two of them had fallen asleep accidently while resting on the branch to take a break from searching. Unknown to them though, they had already been discovered, it was Gildarts. Looking around for the source of the loud snoring, he looked up and sighed heavily.

"Yoooo Natsu wake up, you scaring away all the animals." The dragon slayer and exceeds eyes shot open, they knew that voice all too well. Standing up, Natsu stretched then leaped down from the tree, he was standing a few feet away from Gildarts.

"Gildarts…I figured it would be you I'd fight but, I was hoping to find you first." Gildarts couldn't help but to smirk.

"Oh? Is that so, well then, I'm glad I didn't disappoint." Happy flew around Natsu as he spoke.

"But Natsu, I thought we were looking for Erza? Not Gildarts." He chuckled a bit before responding to the blue cat.

"Yeah I wanted to fight Erza, but I couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to happen instead." The orange haired older man nodded in understanding, he was thinking the same thing in a sense.

"I was thinking the same thing really. Anyway, let's go ahead and get this test started, right Natsu? I know you must be eager, show me how strong you have gotten." Giving a smirk of his own, the pink haired mage entered his battle stance as his body burst into flaming magical energy.

"Alright…I'M ALL FIRED UP!" The Ace of Fairy Tail watched in surprise as the dragon slayer's magic energy continued to soar to new heights, he was impressed. He watched more carefully as the fire mage was preparing to strike, he underestimated the young man's speed greatly. Natsu was moving in what appeared to be quick burst flashes of speed; this made him much more evasive. He had managed to evade one of Gildarts counter attacks while actually being able to land a few blows on the mage, although they didn't do much at all really. He mistakenly dodged one counter attack wrong and ended up being sent through three well spaced trees.

"Natsu, when did you get so fast? And not just that either, I see your power has risen considerably, though you still have a long ways to go in that department." The dragon slayer got up from the ground as he started walking back to the battle area.

"What can I say? I have an awesome girlfriend." The orange haired man raised an eye brow.

"Girlfriend? Who, Lisanna? You two picked back up where you left off after the Edolas thing?" Natsu chuckled as he shook his head.

"Nope, my girlfriend is Mirajane, she's the one I trained with for the past two weeks." Those words seemed to had stopped time as the orange haired man stood stock still, moments passed before he reacted.

"WHAAAAT!?" The fire mage burst into laughter at the man's reaction.

"Yep, now we live together as of two days ago." Gildarts didn't even know what to say as he stood there immobilized. After a moment passed he had seemed to had shaken it off.

"Natsu, I'm going to ask you a very important question." Not sure what it could be, the dragon slayer nodded, giving him the ok to proceed. "How many times have you been in there?" A gust of wind blew by them as he looked at the pink haired mage with a very serious face, knowing what he was asking immediately, Natsu exploded and rushed at him again.

"What the hell kinda question is that!" His fist was a hair length away from striking the man in his left jaw, that was until he was slammed into the ground.

"Geez Natsu really, learn how to take a joke." Gildarts only sighed after saying this.

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Gray **

"So what is it gonna be, Gray? This envelope or your friend, choose now." She was dead serious he knew that much but he wondered how much SHE knew, he sighed in defeat and dropped to his hand and knees.

"Ok Erza, I give up." Erza and Loke's eyes widened at those words.

"What? You spent all of this time trying to find an examiner and then when you do you just give up!? What the hell Gray!" Loke shouted this at the ice make mage as Titania lowered her sword from Loke's neck and walked over to Gray, she stood with her arms cross as she shook her head in disappointment.

"Gray, I never thought you were the type to give up so quickly." Behind the scarlet haired woman was an extremely quiet Loke who was sneaking up behind her. He had gotten close enough to her as he put her into a strong head lock and kicked her in the bend of her legs forcing her to fall to her knees, she cursed angrily.

"What hell! Damn it! You bastards are gonna pay!" Gray began chuckling as he rose to his feet and walk up to her; he squatted down to eye level as he smirked at her.

"Why are you so angry Erza? You need to chill out a bit, let me help you." Placing his hands into the ice make position, he casted his spell. "**Ice Make: Human Sculpture!**" Ice began climbing from the ground up to Erza's lower neck, it was freezing cold. Loke had grabbed the envelope just before it covered her hands; Gray went on to make another ice spell for safety measures. "**Ice Make: Prison!** see you around Erza." With that Gray and Loke made a mad dash to get away from Titania as they began searching for the way out.

"This is ridiculous!" Yelled a seriously pissed off Erza.

* * *

**Well that's the new chapter, hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter will get deeper into things, well that's the plan at least XD but in any case feel free to follow/favorite and comment even if it's not about this particular chapter but story as a whole, I'll like to know how my readers are responding to what I wright. That's all, I'll correct the major mistakes (if there is major ones) a bit later today and hopefully I'll get right into making the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	16. Trouble Over the Horizon

**School seriously destroyed my somewhat usual update schedule XD I'm not going to go too much into that though as it's pretty boring (It's school) anyway, I finally reached 100 followers! :O That's an ass of people to me lol I really want to thank everyone that's been putting up with this weird updating thing but just know, I have big plans for this story, think about them every day. In any case, go ahead and begin reading! :D**

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Elfman**

There was a sizeable amount of damage done in this section of the forest as two sibling takeover mages did battle. The male takeover mage was giving it his all against the, not so amused, female takeover mage, they came to a brief pause as they stared each other down.

'_She's being totally unfair; I can't win against my older sister.' _Elfman continued to look at her. "Mira-nee, you're serious about this aren't you?" The only answer he got was her tapping her tail on the ground once. He heard someone walking up beside him, it was Evergreen. She placed a hand on his left shoulder; he bent down to her level as she whispered in his ear.

"I've been thinking of a plan while you two were fighting it out. How about we set up an ambush? It could work." The muscular man thought it over as he glanced back up at his demonic sister, he nodded.

"Ambushing isn't manly, but I'm willing to give anything a shot at this point." The brown haired woman grinned, which didn't go unnoticed by Mirajane who tilted her head down a bit.

'_What are they planning…?' _After a moment passed, Elfman began pounding the ground brutally and rapidly as he was creating an enormous amount of dust, completely blocking Mirajane's field of vision. She could hear fleeing footsteps moving away quickly as the sound was fading, they were escaping. The demon takeover mage flew up into the air to get a bird's eye view of things; they really had escaped from her.

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Natsu**

A series of high speed impacts took place in this part of the forest as a dragon slayer was squaring off against the Ace of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive. It was impressive that the young man was even still standing up to him, let alone dodging some of his attacks. Natsu knew that he wouldn't have been able to evade the attacks from the older man if it wasn't for the training he did with Mirajane. The fact that they worked on speed, reaction time, and stamina was ironic as he was using every bit of that now. After another while of clashing and evading each other, Gildarts stopped.

"Alright, I think I've gotten a pretty good gauge of the depths of your power." Natsu stopped as well do to him finding what he was saying very interesting, he listened more. "It's even more obvious that you're able to handle yourself extremely well in fights against a tough enemy. So with me saying that, this exam is over, you pass Natsu." Gildarts was just about to reach for the envelope but stopped as he was punched square in the face. Though he was unmoved, he frowned slightly at the fire mage who was gritting his teeth. "…What?"

"You didn't think I did all of that training just for you to tell me I pass without even defeating you did you!?" The orange haired man sighed as he moved the fire mage's fist out of the way. He then slammed him into the base of a thick tree and held him there.

"…You should have just taken the envelope Natsu." The dragon slayer set himself a blaze as his power began to start rising again, Gildarts was unfazed as he too started releasing his own magical energy. The ground began to shake and vibrate quite a bit as they locked eyes, Natsu baring a serious angry expression and Gildarts having a calm deadly serious one. The Ace of Fairy Tail noticed something about the dragon slayer that he didn't feel before. With this new finding, he flared his energy to its peek for just a moment; it was enough for the dragon slayer to start trembling a bit and give up. After seeing the pink haired man become at ease, he let go of him as he fell to the ground on his hands and knees panting heavily.

"I was afraid that might happen…but I had to know for myself where I stood against someone like you…" He still had a bit of tremble left in him as what all had just happened settled in, the blue exceed, who had been absent for the majority of the fight, flew over to his friend and patted him on the back. The orange haired man sighed while sitting the envelope onto the ground in front of the defeated dragon slayer who chuckled a bit as he sat onto the ground.

"If you knew this would happen, then why didn't you try to run away? You can't win every fight just by having guts you know." The fire mage grabbed the envelope as he got up from the ground.

"I know that more than you think trust me." Having finally regained his composure completely, the dragon slayer went on to explain what all had happened to him and Mirajane on their last job. The orange haired man stared with a shocked expression as he listened to everything, he understood now.

"Well that sure explains a lot. I'm pretty sure that you did that training for more than just this exam though didn't you?" With a serious face and tone, Natsu gave his response.

"Yeah, I have to get stronger for myself, Mira's sake, the guild, and to get that much closer to finding Igneel too." Gildarts sighed as he shook his head, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Natsu, it seems like you've done more growing in more ways than just physically. I can't find a fault in what you said just now to be honest, but that does bring me to my next thing to address. In our fight I noticed something about your power, I'm not sure if you have or not but it's pretty serious for what I can tell." Natsu looked at the man with genuine confusion.

"What was it, is it bad?" Shaking his head Gildarts elaborated.

"To keep it short and simple, there's power lying dormant within you, a great amount of it too. There's no way to tell the depth of it at the moment though." The dragon slayer remained silent for a bit after hearing this.

"So, how do I obtain it then?" The Ace of Fairy Tail shrugged his shoulders.

"That's also something I can't say anything specific on simply because I don't know myself, in any case, we could talk about this all day but you still need to go on to the next part of the exams, you did well." Flashing a smile of gratitude, Natsu turned to happy and pointed upwards into the sky, signaling that it was time to go.

"Aye sir!" Clutching onto the pink haired man, the two were up and out into the vast blue sky, soaring quickly towards the exit point of the forest.

* * *

**Tenroujima (Forest)-Elfman**

'_I wonder where they could have run off too…couldn't be too far.' _She slowed her flight speed as she looked around more carefully, scanning the area. The takeover mage had to admit, she was proud that her little brother could conceal himself so easily from an enemy, well for the moment at least. Having been flying over the area in search of the two mages, she began to feel fatigue sneaking up on her.

'_Satan Soul really is starting to drain me, I guess I'll find them and give them the envelope.' _Flying for just a few more minutes, she spotted them. _'Ahh, so that's what they're up to, an ambush. I'm almost certain that this was Evergreen's plan, let's get this over with.'_ After picking an appropriate landing spot, Mirajane glided down to ground and released her takeover form.

"There's just no way this is going to work; nee-Chan could see this a mile away." Evergreen sighed as she knew Elfman was probably right, the 'trap' was pretty obvious. The ambush consisted of a series of vines lying around on the ground. Some of them would hoist a person up into one of the tall trees while some of them did nothing, it was simple but elaborate.

"You never know unless you try, right? Besides what's the worst that could happen?" Elfman's mind became filled with terrifying scenarios of the possible outcomes to this plan, and none of them were in their favor.

"She's going to beat our ass I just know it." The sound of some bushes rustling caused them to become alert. Wasting no time, they moved into their position, which was in the middle of the trap. Walking from behind a tree was Mirajane.

"Oh, I see I finally found you two EEAHH-" Much to the brown haired woman and white haired man's disbelief, the bar mage walked right into the trap as she was hoisted up into the tree. "Well this brings back memories." Mirajane couldn't help but to feel mild nostalgia as she was once again for the second time in her life, hanging upside down from a tree in a forest. The envelope fell out of her dress and onto the ground below as Elfman walked over and picked it up.

"Mira-nee… I didn't expect you to fall for something like this…" The female takeover mage smiled as she replied.

"It's sweet to know that you think so highly of me, I saw the traps from above and decided to just go along with it. Now, I suggest you two go ahead and leave for the exit, before I change my mind." Not wanting to push their luck any further, Elfman and Evergreen fled the scene in a great heist, the dangling takeover mage sighed. "I really should try to get down from here." Just as she said this, she heard the sound of someone walking up, looking down she saw who it was.

"This takes me back." It was Erza, who was grinning up at the white haired woman.

"Can you please just cut me down; I'm pretty drained at the moment." Titania smirked before cutting her friend down in one simple motion while catching her.

"Come on; let's head back to the camp." As the two females began their walk through the forest, curiosity struck accord in Mirajane.

"So Erza, how'd the exams go on your end?" Folding her arms while gritting her teeth, she gave her response.

"I was cheated! Those little bastards, Gray and Loke, tricked me; I should have known that gray giving up so easily was just a lie!" Mirajane giggled at the thought of Erza being fooled so easily. "But I have to be honest, I'm proud of their team work, definitely wasn't expecting that. How was your exam?"

"My exam…" In a very cute aloof manner, Mirajane held her right index finger to the right side of her bottom lip as she seemed to be thinking about her answer. "My exam was fun; I got to play with my little brother and his partner for a bit." Erza didn't need an explanation as to what she meant by '_fun_' and '_playing_' with her younger brother, if anything else she was probably _toying _with them, Titania only smirked for what would be the second time now.

"Ok, no need to explain any further, I'm sure I know what happened. I bet you just decided to through the match in the end huh." The takeover mage smiled and nodded, making the scarlet haired woman shake her head and sigh.

* * *

**Deeper within Tenroujima Forest**

Tears fell freely from a young man's eyes as he sat under a tree with his face in the palm of his hands. His sorrow wasn't an audible one; he only continued to murmur something.

"I don't want to kill anymore, I don't want to kill anymore, I don't want to kill anymore." Those words were repeated continuously several times over, until suddenly he gained a panicked expression and clutched his head.

"Oh no…no, no, no, please! It's happening again! I'm going to kill again!" He looked around at all of the wild life and vegetation around him as tears continued to fall from his drenched eyes. After another moment or so passed, it happened. Black magic energy released its self violently in a full three-sixty degree radius, completely erasing all life around him for what appeared to be about twenty yards all around.

"…Please…find me soon…you two are the only ones… that can lay me to…rest…" The young man trekked onward to another part of the forest that was unknown to him, he disappeared within the trees.

* * *

**Small Clearing outside the Forest**

Master Makarov stood in front the remaining contenders from the first part of the exams, they were all very eager to get going.

"Alright, I know you all are pretty excited to get things going and believe me I'm interested in seeing the overall outcome of things. Now, this part of the exams will be a bit different as well." Makarov watched as they all looked back and forth at each other, he went on to continue. "In this part, you will search for the grave of the first Fairy Tail guild master, Mavis Vermillion. You will six hours to find the grave, everyone that makes there within that time will move on to the final part of the exams and everyone that doesn't find it will be eliminated, leaving you with no choice but to wait until the next S-class exams." Many of them gulped dramatically at the rules and penalty. "Alright brats…GO!" Everyone started running off into the forest quickly, all in different directions to look for the grave.

"Don't you brats take too long now hehehe." The short guild master casually began making his way to the grave.

* * *

**Within the Distant Clouds**

"We will be upon Tenroujima within three hours or so Master Hades is there anything you'd like for us to do before then?" Two people stood in the flying ship's bridge, overlooking the slightly cloudy bright blue horizon. One being Hades, the leader of Grimoire Hearts and the other being Ultear, former member of the magic council.

"No, just be prepared to depart soon, there can be absolutely no mistakes." Glancing over to her master, Ultear noticed that there was a familiar gleam of evil present in his eyes. She had seen this only one other time and it didn't end well at all. The poor souls that had managed to anger him paid the ultimate price.

"Understood master, I'll be on my way then." With those words, the young woman left her master to himself.

'_At long last, I've finally found you, Zeref!'_ Now squinting his eyes some, Hades peered out at the horizon.

* * *

**Fairy Tail Camp**

The resting Fairy Tail members had finally gotten a break from the suns over baring beam of hot energy as a very large white cloud blocked the blazing star. Cooking what appeared to be a stew was Erza and Lisanna. The two were both adding things in that they agreed would make for a great meal. After having added in everything she could think of, Lisanna walked of over to the table her older sister was sitting, well, resting at.

"I think that's all I can add in Erza, I'll just rest for a bit." Titania gave her a polite nod and a smile before looking back at the stew she was mixing. The animal takeover mage looked at her sister, who had her head down on the table napping and gained a mischievous grin. Lifting her right hand up, she then smacked it against the wooden table causing the sleeping mage to jolt awake.

"WHA- Lisanna!" The younger sister burst into laughter at the startled look of her sister's face.

"You are starting to take after Natsu Mira-nee, it's adorable actually." Mirajane began to blush as her sister teased and giggled at her.

"That's not funny Lisanna." The demon takeover mage was now pouting. Hearing everything that was going on, Erza decided to add her own insight on things.

"The way I see it, you're going to be back to destroying shit and picking fights for no reason soon enough." Now Titania and Lisanna were both teasing her and laughing, Mirajane sighed.

"Haha very funny you guys, if you were just going to tease me couldn't you have waited until I rested a bit more. I feel like I only have half my energy back." Tapping the ladle against the rim of the pot, Erza fixed the energy deprived woman a bowl of stew and sat it in front of her.

"Here, eat up. I and Lisanna spent about two hours making this." Mirajane stared down at the bowl for a bit before smiling and taking a bite, she froze. Lisanna and Erza looked at each other then back to the frozen demon takeover mage.

"Is something wrong? Hey Mira, snap out of it." The scarlet haired woman snapped a finger in her face, but to no avail.

"Mira-nee a-are you ok? Say something." After not saying anything for another moment, she spoke but extremely quiet.

"Amazing." The two mages across from her didn't hear her clear enough so they leaned in and asked her to repeat herself, this time she responded much different. Reaching across the table quickly, she brought both of them into a tight hug.

"It's amazing! It even feels rejuvenating!" The two mages responsible for cooking the meal was happy to see the reaction and gratitude from the once extremely tired takeover mage.

"Well were glad you like it." After letting the two mages go, she sat back down and took another bite. Erza walked off to fix her and Lisanna a bowl of stew as well.

"Say Mira-nee, are you worried any about Natsu? I hear the second part of the exams is to find First master Mavis's grave, and you know Natsu isn't one for patience." Mirajane looked at her younger sister with a face that sort of disagreed with the statement.

"That may have been true in the past, but I'm starting to see more patience in him." Not having anything to really say to that response, Lisanna rested her head in the palm of her right hand as she began day dreaming about random things.

* * *

**The Forest (Natsu)**

"AHHCHOO! Someone must be talking about me; where else you think we should look Happy?" The dragon slayer and blue exceed were flying high within the sky as to get a bird's eye view of everything.

"I'm not sure Natsu; we could try going west a bit. My arms are starting to get tired though." Natsu knew that this portion of the exams was timed but that still wasn't reason enough to push his friend to extreme length or anything.

"Alright happy pick a landing spot, I'll walk for a while and you can rest on my head, ok?" They began to descend upon the ground swiftly.

"Aye sir!" Once they were on the ground, the dragon slayer kept his word and allowed the tired exceed to rest atop his head.

"Alright, let's get moving." The two began their walk through the lush thick forest. Small animals were running around freely, the many sounds of insects could be heard as well. Time passed as they continued on walking through the forest in silence, complete silence. Natsu stopped as he looked around.

"What's wrong Natsu?" He heard Happy's question, but continued to look around before speaking.

"Something's wrong Happy, it's gotten too quiet all of a sudden." Then just as he said this, a male with black hair and wearing black attire walked out from behind a tree, he was crying, but not audibly.

"I-It's really y-you Natsu, where is that beautiful woman of yours huh? Is she hiding somewhere?" Natsu immediately leaped into his battle ready stance as Happy began floating around him.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want with Mira?!" Instead of answering Natsu, the young man began to shake as he clutched onto his head with a face of terror.

"Oh no, no please! Stop! I don't want to kill anymore, I don't want to kill anymore, I don't want to kill anymore!" Seeing the dark black energy spread from his body, Natsu leaped into the air as Happy grabbed hold of him.

"**Fire Dragons Roar!**" The fire reached the black energy, and was completely erased with ease. Seeing that there was no other choice, Happy took them high into the air as they waited for the attack to end. Once it was over, they landed onto the ground as Natsu launched at the young man and jabbed him in the jaw.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" The black haired young man looked disappointed and saddened.

"No, no, no, it's too early? If you're only this strong, then that woman can't have changed much either. Which means…Which means you two can't kill me yet…" Natsu and Happy looked at each other with legit confusion.

"Tell me, what do you mean by 'you two can't kill me yet'?" Not answering, the young man stared at him.

* * *

**Within the Distant Clouds**

"Sir!" There were two figures standing in front of Hades, rooster and what appeared to be a humanoid goat.

"Now tell me what your mission is, just to be clear." Hades waited for an response as he didn't really trust them knowing what to do just by word of mouth.

"We are to infiltrate Tenroujima in an attempt to locate and capture Zeref. Succeed or not we wait until the main forces descend upon the island. At this point Zeref will be extracted." They watched as the answer pleased their master.

"Good, good, now be on your way there isn't a second to waist." They bowed before leaving the room to depart the ship.

* * *

**So that's chapter 16 done and out of the way, my plan is to start on 17 immediately. Please comment as those let the author know how the reader feels, motivate the author and some of you all's comments be pretty entertaining XD well any major errors will be taken care of asap, until next time! **


	17. Impossible Possibility

**Hello everyone, it's definitely been a while (Most likely that'll be taken as an understatement) but at last I do bring SOME material to you. I admit that this is one of my shorter chapters after a while (2.5k, shorter than my previous 4 – 4.5 k chapters) but an update is an update. I can only say that I had/have become pretty busy since the last chapter (haven't even read anyone else's stories either) I'll try to get back into updating this either weekly or every other week.**

* * *

**The Forest (Natsu)**

The pink haired man and his flying blue cat stared at the black haired young man before them with expressions demanding an answer.

"What do you mean 'You two can't kill me yet'?" The young black haired man casted his gaze downwards.

"It's no point in telling you that now, it wouldn't change anything…" Feeling even greater confusion now, the dragon slayer sighed as his expression hardened.

"You're really starting to piss me off now, you're not explaining anything. You tell me that I and Mira aren't strong enough to kill you yet, not giving a reason for it. Then you choose not to explain any of it, what are you not telling me?" Seeming to be thinking over what he should say next, the young man stayed silent for a bit.

"…I've already said too much, I must be going…" Natsu reached an arm out to grab him but had it knocked away. "Stay back! Now isn't the time." A black vortex began form around him as he began fading away, after a moment he was gone.

"Natsu…what was all of that about you think…" These were the words of the dragon slayers blue exceed.

"I…don't know happy, we should just keep moving on for now." The blue cat rested atop of Natsu's head as he started his walk. _'None of that made any sense… I have to tell Mira about this.' _The two continued on in silence, searching for the first master's grave.

* * *

**The Forest (Mirajane)**

After enjoying the tasty energy replenishing meal her younger sister and Erza made together, she was now walking through the forest at a leisurely like pace.

"It finally seems to be cooling down some now; I wonder how everyone's doing." A gentle gust of wind blew past her as she stopped walking and stared up into the clear blue sky above her, she smiled warmly.

"Today is really-" She was interrupted by the sudden close proximity of a sword slash aimed for her neck. Leaping back, her face hardened as she was now standing face to face with two enemies. Both were a type of humanoid animals, one being a rooster while the other was a dog.

"We struck gold Yomazu, a beautiful woman-peron!" The rooster exclaimed excitedly to his partner, who grinned in agreement.

"Right you are Kawazu; it's too bad she's a member of Fairy Tail though." Mirajane shifted her gaze between the two as the realization dawned on her after seeing the guild mark.

"Grimoire Hearts, you shouldn't be on this island, this is the holy ground of the Fairy Tail guild, state your business!" The two enemies shared a look between each other a began bursting into laughter.

"Why else would we be here, were hunting fairies, its war!" Breathing a sigh, Mirajane closed her vibrant blue eyes and slowly reopened them, revealing the icy cold demonic ones as she began transforming into her Satan Soul form, she smirked.

"Ok, if that's how things are, then I guess there's just no way around it then hmm? Come, let's begin." Kawazu and Yomazu began to sweat a bit at the sight of the demonic Mirajane, none the less though, they launched at her.

* * *

**The Forest (Natsu) **

Not far from Mirajane's location, the dragon slayer and his feline companion could hear sounds of battle taking place nearby. Curiosity was begging the pink haired man to go investigate on what was causing such a ruckus.

"Happy, let's go take a look over there for a moment." The blue cat perked up a bit as he nodded his head.

"Aye sir!"

* * *

**The Forest (Mirajane)**

A demonic laugh was heard as the two Grimoire Hearts members were being brutally punished hit after hit in rapid succession. The fight didn't last long as Mirajane wrapped things up in a timely manner. Just as she was restraining them the sound of rustling shrubs caught her attention. Looking up she met the face of Natsu and Happy, both baring confused expressions. She released her demonic form with a sigh as she began to explain.

"These two broke into the exam, they're from Grimoire Hearts." The dragon slayer's face became serious; he approached the restrained enemies and crouched down to make eye contact.

"Tell me, why are you here on this island?" The rooster began to chuckle as he gave his response.

"Were here to hunt fairies of course-peron!" The sound of flames igniting was heard as Natsu brought down a flaming fist upon Kawazu's head, making him cry out in pain.

"Want to try that again?" Another moment passed before Kawazu gave his response.

"Ok, were really here to retrieve the dark wizard, Zeref." Immediately after the announcement of the name, Mirajane gasped.

"Zeref, here on this island? That's impossible!" The look of shock and disbelief had Natsu a bit worried, the rooster continued on though.

"But it's true; he is here on this island. We were sent to scout the grounds for him and any other enemies. With that said, we aren't the main force. They will be here soon enough, and they're far more dangerous-peron." There were no words spoken after this new information. Sighing, Natsu stood up completely and knocked out the two restrained enemies, he then turned to the takeover mage.

"Zeref, who is that?" Mirajane maintained her shocked expression at hearing this.

"Zeref is the strongest evil mage of all time. His power of black arts is beyond legendary; he even has a book filled with thousands of evil dark magic monsters. If he's truly on this island…" The fire mage tilted his head to the side as he watched the takeover mage trail off into a deep thought before snapping back to reality. "Never mind that, the exams will be postponed anyway sadly, I'm sorry Natsu…" Giving a sigh the dragon slayer grinned a bit.

"It's ok, I understand, the protection of everyone else is far more important. If that Zeref guy really is here then we should warn the others, you have a flare on you?" The white haired woman smiled, feeling happy at how well her boyfriend was responding to the current turn of events. She patted herself down in search of the alert flare only to discover that she had left it back at the camp, sighing deeply she shook her head.

"No, I must have left it on the table back at the camp site. I have to go back there, you coming?" Natsu nodded as happy floated around him.

"Did you even have to ask? Let's go, we'll get there faster if we fly, you got the energy for it Mira?" Nodding as well, Mirajane transformed into Satan Soul once again as Happy latched onto Natsu's shirt. The three took to the skies, moving quickly towards the camp site. Unknown to them though, there troubles were just beginning. The main force of the Grimoire Hearts guild had just descended upon the island, all in search for the legendary dark wizard, Zeref.

'_We have to hurry!' _Thought a now slightly impatient and tense Mirajane.

* * *

**Fairy Tail Camp**

It was a quiet peaceful time at the camp as Lisanna rested her head in her arms on the table as she awaited her sister and now Erza's return as well. She wasn't asleep but simply resting. Soon though she sat up and noticed there was an alert flare gun left on the table beside her. Grabbing it, Lisanna looked over it and pondered on whose flare it was. Deciding to just ignore the flare gun she, sat it down and rested her head in her arms as she began to slowly drift off to sleep. The sound of approaching footsteps was tuned out completely. Without warning, a strong hand had found its way around her neck, gripping firmly.

"So you're all that's here at this camp huh, unlikely. Where's Zeref, we know he's here on this island." Lisanna's eyes sprung open as she struggled to get free of the man's grip.

"What…are you…talking…about. This is… Fairy Tail….holy Island." Feeling frustrated a bit by her answer, the man tossed her across the table, landing on the path beside the camp. She was lying face down on the path, slowly she rolled over and began getting up from the ground, she could now see her attacker. Standing before her by the table she was thrown from, was a tall tanned skin muscular man with wild confetti shaped like hair. He wore a mug on his face as he began walking towards her; Lisanna entered her animal take over in the form of a cat. "Who are you?" The man's facial feature became graced with a smirk as he answered.

"Azuma, of Grimoire Hearts." Hearing the name of the guild he was affiliated with caused her eyes to widen in surprise, but then narrowed at a realization. If he's here then so is the rest of the guild, a war has started.

"I don't know who this Zeref person is you're looking for but they aren't here, you can't remain on this sacred land either." Azuma could only laugh at the very thought of what she was suggesting.

"You should know by now that there's just no way that's happening." Those words were the last ones spoken between the two as they engaged in battle.

* * *

**Fairy Tail Camp (Moments Later) **

Explosions were shaking the area of which the Fairy Tail camp was built on. The explosions were a result of the battle taking place here. A duel between a female animal take over mage and a great tree arc caster mage was getting more serious with each passing moment. As skilled in battle as the great tree arc caster was, he still was becoming a bit pressed as the female mage was gradually pushing him back.

'_How the hell is this happening!?' _Azuma managed to grab hold of Lisanna and toss her away from him, giving him room.

"Alright, I think that's enough playing around with you, it's time I finished this." Tree roots burst forth from the ground around Lisanna, latching on to her arms and legs, she gritted her teeth.

"What is this!?" She began to become incased within a thick layer of the roots as timer appeared on the front of it which read 180 seconds, with a smirk, Azuma spoke.

"180 seconds…in 180 seconds time, there won't be any remnants of you left." To Azuma's surprise, she laughed, he was confused. "You find your death to be funny?" She calmed down just a bit to where she was smirking confidently now.

"No, I don't but, it's a horrible day to be you right now!" Azuma's face was now severely confused.

"What does that suppose to mea-" A blazing hot fist of fire smashed down on his head, effectively knocking him down to the ground, he lied there moaning in pain for a bit then grunted. "*Urgh*, what the hell?" looking up, he was met with two pairs of killer intent filled eyes. One pair belonged to the demonic female and the other to the flaming male, the male looked at the female while cracking his knuckles.

"Mira, you free Lisanna, he's mine." Mirajane nodded and quickly began trying to free Lisanna from the bomb. Azuma stood from the ground as he began to laugh.

"You really think it'll be that simple? That bomb isn't stopping until one of these two things happen, it goes off or you defeat me within the limit, which is now just under 2 minutes." Hearing this was all Natsu needed to began the fight, he launched at Azuma blistering fast. The tree arc user tried to put up a guard but wasn't quick enough as he nah was under the angry dragon slayer's full on assault. The fire mage uppercutted him sending Azuma into the forest canopy while quickly launching himself upwards to equal height then slamming a heavy fist down upon his enemy torso, sending him into the ground. Not being finished with him just yet, he summoned up a deep breath of fire.

"Burn, **Fire Dragon's Roar!**" Searing hot yet controlled flames fell upon the great tree arc user, he was done. The pink haired mage stood huffing a bit as he calmed down and took a look at the now hugging Strauss sisters who were still in there take over forms and smiled with a sigh of relief. He walked over to them.

"Man that was a close one, Lisanna you alright?" They both looked at him with a smile, Lisanna nodded then answered him.

"I'm fine, thank you, the both of you for saving me." The dragon slayer laughed and claimed it as no big deal; Mirajane walked over to Natsu and looked at him with a serious expression.

"We need to find Master Makarov quickly, wait, where's the flair gun?" Hearing her sister's question about the missing flare gun jogged Lisanna's memory a little. She walked over to the now battered path and searched around a bit, before long, she found the flare gun and brought it to her sister.

"Here you go Mira-nee; ironically I was looking at this before I was attacked." Grabbing the gun, the takeover mage pointed it straight up and fired it. A red stream of smoke field the air quickly for miles high, signaling officially to all the contending fairies that the exam had been postpone. She turned to Natsu, her face holding the expression of serious intentions.

"Let's get moving Natsu." Seeing his nod of agreement she then looked to her younger sister.

"Lisanna I want you to come along with us, this area could still be dangerous." To her surprise however, her sister decline.

"No it's ok Mira-nee; I'm just going to stay here. There shouldn't be any more enemy activity here." The demon takeover mage stared at her younger sister as she contemplated leaving her, reluctantly she agreed.

"…Ok Lisanna, be careful." After receiving a reassuring nod, Natsu and Mirajane took flight.

* * *

**The Sky of Tenroujima**

Once they had gotten further away from the camp, the dragon slayer looked over to his demonic girlfriend; she was tenser then before, he frowned.

"Hey Mira, are you ok?" He continued to look at her as they flew along, she was quiet. After a moment of silence, spoke.

"Something feels off but…I don't know what." Natsu closed his eyes as he flew along thanks to Happy. Concentrating now, he could feel it too; it was faint but definitely there.

'_This feels just like earlier…'_ Looking to Mirajane, he nodded in agreement to what she said. "We should land; it wasn't too long ago that I and Happy came across this strange guy in the forest. He had some sort of magic that erased or killed everything it touched, though it seemed like he didn't really have control over it." Mirajane flew silently as she took in the new information.

'_Could this…could this be Zeref you're talking about Natsu? ' _"…Yeah, let's check it out, someone could be in trouble down there." Quickly they descended to the ground. The white haired mage released her takeover form with the sigh of a breath as she and her two companions began to move through the forest in search of the source of the mysterious energy.

* * *

**That's it, not my best one but I can things along more now. Feel free to leave feedback on the chapter as it is needed :D Thank you for reading and hopefully it flowed well, until next time!**


	18. To Trust The Enemy

**Back again with the new chapter, chapter 18! I know its pretty much has been a month since my last update but as I previously said, I'm on a periodic update schedule as oppose to my attempt of a weekly one. In any case please enjoy the read.**

* * *

**Forest: Master Makarov**

"Master Hades, what is the meaning of this! You of all people should know how much of a disgrace your actions are!" Makarov and his former master, Hades now of Grimoire Hearts, met face to face on the battle field. Hades was baring the look of supremacy while Makarov's demeanor was deadly serious.

"Hmm what's this? Even after knowing I'm an enemy you still greet me as "master", at least grant me with the knowledge as to why that would be?" The current Fairy Tail guild master flinch at the words as he realized just what he had said, sighing however, he gave his answer.

"It's true that we can't deny the fact that we're enemies at this point, but that doesn't change what's already been written in the past. You were my guild master and that fact can't be changed. It's truly painful to bear witness to your fall into the darkness, which brings me to the question of why are you betraying your former guild?" Hades gained a smirk and chuckled.

"You really are kind old man type I see. I'm going to cut to the chase here; I'm here to retrieve Zeref from this island." Makarov's eyes sprung open as the shock took over him.

"Z-Zeref!? Here, on this island!? That's impossible; he's at least 400 years old by now!" Once again Hades marveled in laughter at his successor's utter shock and surprise.

"Oh but it is true Makarov, he's definitely here. Luckily for everyone though, he's still "asleep" at the moment, I'll change that once he is retrieved though." The short guild master didn't speak after hearing this.

* * *

**Forest: Elfman and Evergreen **

"I told you I'm fine, you don't have to keep supporting me now it's unmanly." These words belonged to none other than Elfman as he was still feeling the effects of battle from the first round of the exam.

"Oh really? Fine, carry your own weight then from here on out!" emphasizing her statement, Evergreen let go of the bulky Strauss brother and watched as he fell over onto the ground almost immediately afterwards. He groaned in pain while voicing his thoughts.

"It's very unmanly to allow your teammates to fall over onto the ground helplessly you know." This caused the woman to explode in hot anger.

"What!? Make up your mind already will ya!? If I help it's unmanly and if I don't its unmanly! Oh and then there's the fact that I'm not a-" Elfman had risen to his feet as he heard the sound of something within the forest.

"Shhhh Ever, you hear that sound? It's almost like someone is…" Stopping her heated rant, Evergreen listened carefully and could hear it too.

"Crying, it sounds like someone is crying somewhere." The pair looked around and spotted a male who looked to still be in his teen years weeping by a tree. "Hey who are you, is everything ok? Why are you crying?" They started to walk closer to him when suddenly he looked at them with the face of horror and clutched his head.

"Argh! Please stay back, its coming!" His tears fell even more now at this point. Evergreen and Elfman looked at each other with confused expressions as neither one knew what was going on. "No no no no! I don't want to kill anymore. I don't want to kill anymore!" A vortex of pure black energy exploded from him and was headed their way fast; Elfman and Evergreen froze in place. Just before the wave of raw energy reached them, they were thrown onto the ground.

"Get down!" The energy passed over them without causing any harm to them. Once it was all over, Elfman and Evergreen were able to see their rescuers. Standing before them was an angry Natsu with a black scarf and an angry Satan Soul demonic Mirajane, both glaring at the young man.

"This is him Natsu, the one you told me about?" Mirajane asked this while never looking away from the male, her glare was as cold as ever.

"Yeah, that's him he's the one." The dragon slayer tightened his fist as he looked at the male as well. "What's your deal huh? Didn't I just run into you a few hours ago? Why are you still here!?" The young man shifted his gaze between Natsu and Mirajane, and wept once more.

"If only you two could kill me now,,, I wouldn't have to suffer any more pain… nor would anything or anyone else…But you aren't strong enough yet… I'm too early…" Hearing this angered the pink haired mage.

"You wanna bet!?" He was just about to launch at him when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Mirajane. "What's wrong Mira?" She glanced at her boyfriend and shook her head, then looked back to the young man.

"No, not yet Natsu, we still need to know something's first." The dragon slayer nodded his head and calmed down a bit. "Ok, tell me, are you… are you the legendary dark wizard Zeref?" No one made a sound as they awaited his answer.

"… I… I can't answer that…" The Fairy Tail mages were slightly annoyed by his answer. It was a simple yes or no question; the takeover mage grimaced but proceeded to the next question.

"Why did you say me and Natsu aren't strong enough to kill you, how do you know this for certain." Silence once again fell on the group as they waited for the response.

"…That's…I… I can't answer that either-" Just as he finished his last words, a demonic fist connected to his right jaw, sending him smashing into a tree. Mirajane frowned hard.

"Do you think this is some kind of game!? There are people here on this island waging war trying to find Zeref and it's destroying our sacred land! Tell me, are you Zeref or not! And explain what you meant by us not being strong enough to kill you!" Looking up with tears and a hurt facial expression, the young man answered.

"Look, I-I can't tell you that ok, It's not time yet! If I told you now… Just please swear to me that the two of you will become more powerful… before it's too late…" The takeover mage's eyes were wide in surprise, but for only a moment though. She then narrowed them and thought deeply for a moment.

"…So say that I do believe you, and I allow you to get away-" She was interrupted by Natsu's interjection.

"Mira-" She looked at him and gestured for him to wait a sec, reluctantly he nodded and kept quiet while continuing to watch.

"How long do we have before "It's too late"?" The young man's eyes lit up slightly as he felt that his plea reached her ears.

"You have 11 years from now." Each of the Fairy Tail mages mouths were a gaped now. "I know that this sounds crazy… but you have to believe me… Please…" Closing her eyes Mirajane pondered a bit.

"…Ok." Instantly she was asked the same one worded question by Natsu, Elfman, and Evergreen.

"What!?" Sighing she turned to them slightly, she was still keeping an eye on the black haired man.

"I know I know, sounds farfetched, but I can tell there's some truth in it somewhere. Enough to believe his reasoning, only thing is now, how will we know when it's time?" Smiling some, the man explained while standing up.

"In 11 years time, there will be a request listed specifically for you two; I wouldn't bring anyone else though. We'll meet in the next land over from Fiore. Everything will be settled once and for all there, please be ready, I won't hold back." Though it was nearly scorching hot, there was a surreal chill went down the Fairy Tail guild member's spines as he said this.

"11 years from now… Ok got it, you won't be disappointed. Now that that's squared away, we would like for you to please leave this sacred island." The man eyed Mirajane for a moment more then smiled while taking his leave; he faded away by the use of magic. Once he was out of there sight, everyone looked at each other. Natsu looked at his girlfriend seriously.

"Are you sure about this Mira?" She gave him a confirming nod.

"To be honest, it seemed as though we have no choice in the matter. He definitely would have sought us out at some point later I think anyway, he wanted us specifically after all. Since that's the case, I'm glad we were warned ahead of time. My biggest worry is… what kind of monster are we dealing with here? 11 years is a huge length of time for training and preparation…" The dragon slayer gave a nod in agreement.

"Nee-chan we have to tell master about this, it sounds extremely dangerous." Sighing the demonic Mirajane looked at her brother and agreed.

"Yeah you're right, don't worry though, I'll let him know once we get this island clear of the enemy. What are you guys going to do now, coming with us or no?" Evergreen took the liberty of answer the whit haired female mage.

"Were going to go where help is needed, what about you two?" The bar mage opened her wings as a sign of preparing for flight while Happy, who had been quiet the entire time, flew over to Natsu and latched on to his vest.

"Were off to find master Makarov and aid him in battle if needed, good luck you two, stay safe." Everyone nodded their heads once and took their leave.

* * *

**Forest: Gray**

'_Damn, with Loke gone to help Lucy I'll have to stay on my toes out here. I wonder what this war all about is anyway, Grimoire Hearts shouldn't be-' _Spotting a woman near a stream in the forest, he paused and looked at her wide eyed. _'Tha-That…can't be you, is it… Ur?_ Moving closer to the bushes just behind her he could see it wasn't, but they shared similar, nearly identical features. _'What are you doing…' _Just as the thought to approach and question came into mind he stopped. He watched as she looked around cautiously then moved over to secluded tree and pulled a body out from behind it. It was a young man with black hair; he looked to be asleep though. Dragging him, she brought him over to the stream as she began splashing the water in his face, causing him to stir.

"Wakey, wakey lord Zeref, nap time is over now." Gray froze in utter disbelief.

'_D-Did she just say Zeref!?'_ He watched as she splashed him again, this time he awakened, baring red eyes.

"You people are making a grave mistake awakening me." A wave of high direct pressure blew the woman away from him, she tumbled and flew extremely fast and crashed back first into a large rock. She coughed up a bit of blood as she slowly recuperated from the impact; Gray was starring in awe at the effortlessly near fatal attack on the woman.

"Lord Zeref, it isn't my wish to awaken you. This is my master's will, master Hades wishes for you to return with me to his ship at once. Once there we can explain everything." Zeref continued to give her a glare that could kill.

"I take orders from no one, woman. Now you should leave- Argh! Damn it!" He clutched his head in pain. The woman and gray watched as Zeref released a dark pitch black wave of energy. The woman used a time based magic spell to absorb all of it, Zeref eyes widened slightly then narrowed. "I see you deviled into my magic." The woman smirked.

"And I see you can't quite control your power can you?" Her words angered him.

"You shut up!" Snickering some, the woman became serious.

"It seems that the best way to go about bring you back would be to knock you out and drag you back unconscious." Zeref face became expressionless at this.

"Can you?" Gray watched as the two wizards prepared for battle.

* * *

**Forest: Erza and Juvia**

"Zeref isn't on this Island; I suggest you leave now before we make you." These were the warning words of Erza. She and Juvia stood face to face with Meredy of Grimoire Hearts.

"I'm sorry but I can't just take your word for it, I like to check things like that out myself you know?" Drawing her blade Erza laughed excitedly while Juvia entered a battle ready stance. Meredy too prepared herself.

"That's too bad; I guess most problems can't be solved with words alone after all. Here I go, Juvia back me up when you see fit!" The battle began there. Erza ran at Meredy with brilliant speed and started to slash quickly and violently at the young woman. Juvia seeing an opening, used water to soak the ground beneath Meredy, making it become muddy and sluggish. Realizing just what was happening though the pink haired girl wasted no time in casting her spell.

"**Sensory Link**!" Upon Erza and Juvia's risk were the mark of the sensory link spell, Meredy laughed arrogantly now. "And just like that I win game over, trash."

"What the hell is this!?" Feeling enraged, Erza wielded her blade high, ready to strike when she noticed the girl's expression didn't change. "What do you find so funny anyway?"

"Juvia feels angry!" Erza glanced at Juvia to see she too was enraged as much as she was.

"What did you do?" the scarlet haired woman watched as the pink haired girl walked over to Juvia confidently and jabbed her in the right jaw. Instantly Erza felt the same pain in her jaw.

"I've liked you two sensory systems together, it's almost as if you are the same person. Might as well have fun with the trash before I exterminate you." The two Fairy Tail mages gritted their teeth as came to terms on how serious this was.

* * *

**Forest: Natsu and Happy**

"**Fire Dragon's Roar!**" A fierce blast of fire spewed from the dragon slayer of Fairy Tail's mouth aimed for the fire god slayer of Grimoire Hearts. The blond haired young man merely smirked in amusement as he too unleashed his own massive blast of hot flames. The two flames met each other head on, forming a ball of black and reddish orange flaming energy. Both sides were forcing their way.

'_I can't lose here!' _Summoning up even more strength, the pink haired mage released even more power behind his already going stream of fire.

"A dragon slayer could never hope to top a god slayer! My flames burn 10 times hotter than any flame you could ever hope to produce!" The blond haired man increased his power as well, successfully toppling Natsu.

'_S- so much power, damn it!' _The dragon slayer had been over whelmed. After being burned by the unbelievably hot flames, he passed out and fell to the chard ground. His flying blue cat companion couldn't believe his eyes.

"Na-Na-Natsuuuu!" He quickly flew over to tend to his friend.

"Boring, and after all of that talk too. I guess it's time for me to take my leave, back to finding Zeref then, that too is boring. Happy watched as the fire god slayer left the battle field in no particular rush. Looking back to Natsu, he noticed his gem was pulsating a red-orange color.

* * *

**Forest: Mirajane**

"Master!" Mirajane arrived to the scene of battle finding Makarov and Hades lock in combat. Makarov was in his titan form and was holding his own against Hades.

"Mirajane, have you found any of the others?" the takeover mage nodded in response as she flew up to his right ear.

"Yes, Natsu and I came across Lisanna, Elfman, and Evergreen so far. Lisanna should be somewhere safe right now. Elfman and Evergreen is helping where help is needed. Natsu had to stop for a bit to allow Happy to catch his breath; we've been in the skies for awhile now." She listened as the master groaned then asked his next question.

"Mmm… and what about you? Aren't you near your limit then?" Shaking her head, Mirajane disagreed.

"No Master I'm ok, for now at least. What would you like me to do?" Makarov glanced at the smirking Hades then back to the demonic Mirajane.

"Do as Elfman and Evergreen, help where it's needed, just be careful out there." After giving the master of Fairy Tail a nod, she flew off to search for Natsu.

* * *

**Forest: Mirajane (moments later)**

"If you're looking for Zeref he isn't here." Standing across from the demonic bar mage was a young man with blond hair. He burst into laughter, now she was getting annoyed.

"You don't think I'll really just leave do you? All you Fairy Tail mages are the same I swear. The one with the pink hair tried those same lines on me and look where it got him!" His laugh only seemed to get even louder after saying this. The mentioning of pink hair caught Mirajane's attention though.

"Did you say pink hair? Are you talking about Natsu!?" The laughter came to an end as the male in front of her heard the name.

"Hmm, you know? That's exactly who I'm talking about, yeah, his annoying little blue cat screamed his name after I burnt him down." Mirajane's eyes were narrowed and filled with killer intent. She looked at her gem and found that his words did indeed hold truth as it was pulsating dark blue.

"You just earned yourself a special prize today; you'll get witness me at 100 percent of my power." The sky began to darken as the young man watched the scene before him.

"The whatever, bring it on, I'm a fire god slayer. You shouldn't take tittles like that lightly." To his surprise she now burst into her own demonic laughter.

"Saying things like that, you have no Idea how terrifying I could be!" The air pressure around the area was becoming heavy. Her power burst to life around her in a dark blue color. Small bits of ground began rising and dissolving into the air. "There's no holding back now, get ready."

"Looks like we're going to have a lot of fun!" The male watched as her aura faded away slowly till it was gone completely, she was done. Her expression remained cold and unforgiving. "Well you're done what are you-" It happened so fast, he was just watching her, she was right there in front of him but in an instant he had received five fist to his upper body then kicked away through several upon several thick forest trees. Looking up he could see her standing in the spot she had kicked him from, she was waiting. _'I might've bitten off more than I can chew this time, damn!' _He rose to his feet as he began to build his own energy up. "Ok you demon bitch, I'll give you just what you want!" Mirajane just continued to look at him, expressionless and cold.

"Die." The battle was about to began.

* * *

**That's chapter 18 out the way. We're finally moving into the resolution of this arc. As you can see this chapter demonstrates some more of the changes I had for this arc, hopefully they were enjoyable changes. Feel free to follow, favorite and leave feedback. Till next time! :D**


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